Flight of the Twin Eagles
by Blazblade
Summary: UNSC and GDI. Two different military forces, both made to defend Humanity from forces that would destroy it. Through an anomaly in space, these two would meet in order stop a threat against one humanity as a legend is found by the Initiative. New and old threats soon appear around the two groups as a new alliance is formed. The two eagles take flight into new skies.
1. Introduction

Multiverse Theory...

An idea that they're are various possible universes alongside our own that make up everything that exists. Time, Space, matter, energy, and everything else in between. These multiple universes do contain such similarities in terms of physics and laws of the universe such as gravity, space-time, and of course death. Some of these countless universes could have the same stars in the sky, along with the same positions of celestial constellations that we see in sky at certain points in time. In fact, many of these universes have it to where humanity had first started on Planet Earth, evolving much like how people have learned about in school throughout the years.

However, some of these versions of Earth are different in several ways.

One have it to where young individuals possess abilities after facing their true selves, fighting against creatures which are the embodiment of people's darkness.

One has it to where a organization of evil that rose to power in first half of the 20th century and was able to conquer the world, with only a small band of freedom fighters trying to convince others to fight against these tyrants with one secret agent getting his nation to rise up against their conquers.

One has it to where Humanity created colonies in space for humans to expend outside of their homeworld. However they fell into conflict with multiple factions trying to take control to achieve their own goals with powerful bipedal mechs with the heroes being ones that commanded the most powerful of these mechs in battle.

One where the galaxy was in eternal conflict, one where humanity would kill anything that was non-human, a traitor to their all-powerful god, and those that fall under the sway of the Dark Gods that this all-powerful entity was trying to protect them from.

One even has it where Humanity opened a postal to the land of the Devil himself, where a single space marine would rip and tear his way through it, being something even the creatures of that land would fear.

Truly, the possibilities were endless on what these universes had and the differences that would come from them.

However, this tale is about two universes where Humanity would face extinction from two different enemies.

In one universe, humanity, following the greatest war in their history at the time would from an organization that would after making the discovery of FTL travel would begin to finally move out of their system and into the wider galaxy. They would colonize hundreds of worlds in their particular part of the galaxy, reaching new heights of power and prosperity. However, one fateful day they would fight a war of survival against an alliance of alien cultures. These cultures, united under the lies of a another race that claimed that humanity's destruction was will of the gods that they believed in. That a great crusade must be done in their name to prevent humanity from desecrating their holy grounds for their own greed.

In this world, there would come warriors, warriors of incredible power that would become the symbol hope against the alien horde.

These supersoldiers would lead the fight to stop the alien forces, killing their legions in space via attacking their ships or on the ground alongside their fellow humans. Many would die in battle, knowing no other life but one of a soldier, following the orders of the military they serve to defeat the enemy by any means necessary. However, the aliens would eventually find Earth, and assaulted it in order to completely wipe out the remaining human forces and civilians in order to complete their "Great Journey". However, one of these aliens would finally see the speaker's lies for what they were and would led those who saw the lies much like him.

However, in midst of all of this, an ancient evil soon awoke. This darkness, one that had wiped out an ancient, highly advanced race of beings despite all of their incredible technology. Realizing that either side was able to stop this threat on their own, the heretics joined with the humans that they were to originally wipe out in order to stop this parasite and its hive-mind. During this, one particular super-soldier and his artificial companion would eventually lead the fight to end the loyalist forces and the parasite prior to his disappearance and seeming death to eyes of his humanity.

In another universe, a infamous dictator would die an early death by one who unlocked the secret of time travel and go back to prevent the horrors that the scientist had experienced. While he succeeded in killing said future dictator, the Second World War would occur, however the combatants would end up being the Western Powers against the Soviet Union. This war would become as bad as the original version as another of history's infamous dictators would grow in power seek war with the West, but would die at the close of the war. In response, a secret special forces organization would form in order to prevent any future wars from occurring.

Then in the year of 1995, an asteroid would clash land on the Tiber River in Italy. While it would cause its natural destruction in the area, it brought something that would be the main enemy of Humanity for several decades into the 21st Century. The green crystal would spread through out the world in the coming years as a new terrorist organization would rise to power under its all powerful leader, one claiming to be the Messiah and said that the crystal is the next step in human evolution. From then on, these two organizations would clash four times while the green crystal would continue to spread through out the world, with the third war being the deadliest in human history up to that point. During the climax of the war, a new presence would appear in form of extraterrestrials that was the ones to have implanted the organism that caused the creation of the green crystal in the first place. In the end, the main commander at the time had chosen to fight the right way in order to win and went against the man leading his faction who wanted to use a superweapon that would have spread the crystal even more in exchange to get a quick victory.

Eventually, through the actions of a single agent, the group tasked with stomping out both the terrorist group and stopping the spread of the crystal would receive information that would eventually give the organization the blueprints that would construct the device that would finally stop the spread of the green crystal. However, the Messiah would continue to stop the building of the device until he finally had the chance he wanted to finally get his follower off the plant via an Alien structure in the country that was the origin point of the crystal. With the terrorist group gone, humanity soon began to traverse the stars, seeking both the enemy that remained and new worlds to colonize.

Soon enough, they would find the aliens again and would fight them four more times which would lead to the deaths of Billions in order to further push back the aliens and eventually drive them off for good seemingly. During these wars, humanity would develop powerful weapons in order to finally overcome the aliens and successfully win every war from then on against an enemy that had far more advanced tech then they had. Then during these wars, a new organization that was the rebirth of the original terrorist group would appear with even more advanced tech then its predecessor. Conventional and guerrilla warfare would reappear with this new group as the old feud was reignited. However, it seems that after several decades of fighting, that humanity would finally experience some form of peace with its military at the strongest its ever been.

These two military organizations had overcame impossible odds and succeeded in overcoming them, growing stronger then ever with new lessons and weapons under their belts.

It would be impossible for these two organizations to have ever met until one fateful day where an anomaly would bring both military forces into contact with each other. From this meeting would come a powerful alliance that would fight against threats both old and new with both sides becoming stronger then normal through exchange of technology. This alliance would fight their foes before taking on the most powerful force they would ever fight later down the line.

This is a meeting between those who have overcome hardship and impossible odds in achieving their victories.

A meeting where two super-soldiers would meet face to face and work together to fight their foes back to back.

This is tale of the meeting of the United Nations Space Command and the Galactic Defense Initiative.

* * *

 **Hey guys!**

 **Blazblade here with a another story for you all!**

 **So yeah, if you've read my GDI equipment list you know what it was for. As I said in the first chapter of that list, I'm doing a C &C crossover with other Sci-Fi franchises such as Halo and Star Wars and seeing how the weapons and vehicles I've made will stack up to the villain's of the franchise as the newly named Galactic Defense Initiative fights alongside groups like the UNSC. It's set 150 years after C&C4 (Again yes I know how bad it is, but please bare with me) as GDI has fought against the Scrin and the new Neo Brotherhood of Nod with the weapons they've developed to fight against certain units.**

 **Also, as you can see, I did make this AU in the scene that events in C &C4 changed due to the actions of a single individual which gave GDI information on building the TCN in order stop Tiberium from finally covering the whole Earth. In the decades following the ascension of Nod, GDI would grow into a far more powerful military with reverse-engineering both Nod and Scrin tech in order to boost their capabilities in combat. From there, GDI would expand into the space with them colonizing hundreds of worlds in order further build up their military and give out more space of the ever growing human population. **

**However, they would soon find themselves fighting four more wars with the Scrin which put even the Third Tiberium War to shame in terms of deaths. Then between these wars another terrorist organization, the Neo Brotherhood of Nod would appear on the scene, seemingly to continue Kane's work. During this, all of the upgrades that GDI has that I made up happened with put them on a new level of power.**

 **Now at last, the story that I've been working on that would bring these groups together is finally happening! So hope you guys follow along with it as it goes.**

 **This Blazblade, signing off!**


	2. Chapter 1: Departure

**Here we go, the first official chapter for Flight of the Twin Eagles.** **I don't known anything and this story is for entertainment purposes.**

* * *

 _Chapter 1: Departure_

 **GDS Armstrong**

 **October 20th, 2235**

The _Verdun-Class_ Orbital Station was a massive complex of shipyards, defensive emplacements, and weapon factories that orbited near Eden Nova in the Arcturus system. First built in 2195, prior to the Fourth Scrin War, it has become the main HQ for the GDI Military and their seat of power away from Earth and the political leadership. The base is also known to have dozens of large and small laboratories used by G-Labs in order to develop and define the weapons wielded by the soldiers of the Initiative as well as develop new designs for orbital defense platforms to protect the over 700 worlds held by GDI since its began to explore the galaxy following the development of Spacecraft in the latter half of the 21st Century and had expanded following the Ascension Conflict and the disappearance of the Messiah of the original Brotherhood of Nod, the seemingly all knowing Kane and his followers.

Currently, the large dockyards of the station with their nano-machine forges were busy with setting up new ships for the use by the Navy should the Neo Brotherhood, the successors to the original Brotherhood, attempt war once again or the hated Scrin horde return to challenge GDI yet again. From ships belonging to GDI's current ship lines to previous ships being upgraded to remain effective on the battlefield of the modern era, the shipyards worked 24/7 to keep humanity's navy afloat and ready for its next challenge. The large caliber railguns, ion cannons, plasma cannons and point-defense lasers are on standby with their AI working in other sections of the bases while any manned guns have their gunners at the virtual target ranges, created in due part to GDI's advanced VAS (Virtual Area system) which creates the realistic battlefields for either squad training to war games with dozens on a team in order to keep their skills and coordination up.

In many halls and buildings of the station, soldiers and civilian volunteers working in the various support branches of the military were walking through the hallways and platforms of the base going about their own business or going about their duties. In the various recreation centers, soldiers undergo their usual exercises in order to keep themselves in shape and active. Those off duty are either enjoying themselves in the bars on station or are relaxing on the planet at the hotels and bars well known for attracting tourists.

On this day, one particular individual was walking down to his personal office. He was dressed in a clean, crisp dark blue Navy suit with dozens of metals in on the right side of his uniform and service ribbons on his left. He had service stripes on his left sleeve and golden epaulets on his shoulders, showing his rank to be Fleet Admiral, the highest in the GDI Navy. He looked to be in his mid 50s, his dark brown eyes showing both experience in war and the wisdom he has gained from it. He had short black hair in the usual military style, a sign that he wasn't looking as old as he should have. He also had a scar on his right check, a reminder of a fierce battle he had been in the midst of in the Fifth Scrin War. While his eyes were cold and calculating when he was either commanding a battle and when staring down his enemies, he gave a smile to the men and women that were under his command as he past them.

This man was Fleet Admiral Raymond Masters, the main commander of GDI's Military forces.

For him, today was a momentous occasion. Today, the most powerful ship in the whole Navy would set off on its maiden voyage. Not only that, but it would also be exploring the other side of a wormhole that scientists had recently discovered. It was currently unknown as to how the anomaly appeared in the first place or if it was naturally caused or made by an unknown entity. The current head of GDI's Intelligence Operations or InOps, Admiral Alexander Maxwell, had his people look into the anomaly in order to make sure that it wasn't the Scrin that had created it in order to launch a preemptive strike against GDI's military HQ.

Looking to his left as he walked, he saw the massive ship still in its dock, awaiting word to finally take off into the unknown. The GDS _Olympus_ was the first ship in the new line of _Olympus-Class_ supercarriers which would become the command ships for GDI battlegroups and to lead missions into unknown space in order to find other life and (hopefully) start peaceful relations with them. While some in GDI's ranks were xenophobic due to the Scrin being the first ever aliens that mankind has encountered (although that was thrown into question due to some believing that Kane himself was an extraterrestrial during and some years after the Ascension Conflict), Masters hoped that GDI could move out of its current state and not always have the "Shoot first, ask questions later" mentality that has stuck with them ever since the expansion of GDI into the wider Milky Way galaxy.

The _Olympus_ had weaponry bristling the hull and in the front of the ship, making appear like a moving fortress that could both slug it out with the strongest ships in the Neo Brotherhood and the Scrin and come out on top. From its 40mm CIWS gatling guns, to its devastating Super Ion cannons, the nearly 5.7 km long ship could dish out enough firepower to wipe out all life on a planet if the situation called for it and still have enough munitions to continue it for several more planets after that. Of course, Masters had learned from experience that no matter how powerful a ship was, it could still be destroyed if the enemy was smart enough and had enough ships to crack both the _Olympus's_ Firestorm shield and sturdy hull.

Of course, the girl would go down fighting, taking as many enemy ships with it if possible.

Masters soon picked up his pace as he arrived at his office, stopping in front of the retinal scanner which acted as one of several security measure to keep unwanted individuals from breaking in. He put his face near the scanner as a thin red beam came out of it and moved across his right eye. Once that was done, the scanner gave the green light as a voice came through the machine.

 _"Please say your password."_

" _Victoria aut morte._ " The Admiral replied, the phase being "Victory or death" in Latin. It symbolized GDI's willingness to fight to the bitter end against any foe it came across, to exact a terrible toll on the enemy whenever possible. To make sure that any victory gained by the enemy would be Pyrrhic victories and cost them dearly.

 _"Password accepted, Welcome back Admiral Masters."_ The doors soon slid open as the Fleet Admiral entered his personal quarters. There was a semi-circular white desk opposite him with a few photos on his desk. There were also a bookcase filled with books on military strategy, a counter-top with a coffee machine which already had a pot warmed up to drink. There was also also several chairs next to the desk for when he needed to speak with them sitting down.

A small green human then appeared on his desk via a small projection platform. The human was dressed as an ancient Roman soldier from the days of the Empire. He wore the Lorica Segmentata on his body with him holding a pilum in his fight hand and the rectangular scutum shield on his right side with his hand on top of it. He also had a cloak on his back and had both a gladius sword and pugio dagger in their sheaths hanging from his belt.

"Greetings Admiral." The being in question was Master's personal AI, known as Scipio. While GDI had for a long time been against actual AI being built and deployed in service with the military. The reminders and history with the events of Nod's first AI CABAL and the damage he did following the Second Tiberium War. This event had made GDI start to develop a sort of phobia about true AIs in that they could be as easily manipulated and become as power crazy was CABAL had become. However, decades following the Fourth Tiberium War, GDI had begun to lessen its stance against AI as some entrepreneurial scientists wished to try out creating their own AIs for use in civilian service. While some in GDI's higher ups had great reservations in terms of the Ai running rampant, the scientists made sure that enough precautions were made to prevent such a thing from happening in the future.

Also, during the early half of the 22nd Century, G-Labs had come out with a new idea for how to create AI and were more stable. They could send electric bursts through the human brain's neural pathways and download the bursts into a replication machine allowing the AI to take form. While the system worked if the user was already dead, due to recent advances, volunteers could undergo the process and still remain alive with 80-90% of AIs created in this fashion to survive. ( **Basically think the same ways AI are created in Halo except more efficiently.** )

Masters nodded to his AI assistant as he walked over to get a mug to pour some coffee into his mug. "Hello to you as well Scipio, what's the news from Earth? Has Director-General Knight given her full backing with the expeditionary force?" The current Director General of GDI as well as the leader of humanity, Alyssa Knight had come into power during the Scrin Biltz of the Sixth Scrin War. A rising star prior to her taking the mantle of humanity's leader, she had been known as a shrewd, intelligent, and level-headed individual, able to make serious choices when needed and was responsible for causing several reforms for GDI civilians and allowing Tiberium mutants more representation in government, giving them a much needed spot to voice their ideas. She has also focused on further breaking down on the Neo Brotherhood and hopefully defeat the revived organization which had begun to build up its forces if the previous battles had given any indication.

"Yes sir, Director Knight has given her full backing for Battlegroup Jutland to deploy through the wormhole." Scipio said while straightening his pilum. "If anything, this is among the fastest decisions that our politicians have undergone in recent years since the Sixth Scrin War."

Masters then walked over to his desk and sat down he took a sip from his mug, the caffeine helping to wake up his mind more then it was before. "Well, its commonplace considering politics. Always having those that care more for their own egos and positions more then the actual event or policy their debating on. Plus all of the tape that has to be cut in order to finally allow things to get moving at times." He then sighed loudly as he put down the mug that reached for a digital pad on his desk to check through the events of today and the forces that would go on the expedition. "At times I believe that being a soldier is easier then being a politician. At least we know what we're supposed to do and follow through on it."

"Indeed sir." Scipio nodded.

Masters soon went down the list of ships that would form the battlegroup that would explore past the wormhole.

 _Battlegroup Juland Order of Battle_

1 Olympus-Class Supercarrier

5 Odin-Class Battleships

3 Enterprise-Class Supercarriers

10 Granger-Class Battlecrusiers

12 Lafayette-Class Light Dreadnoughts

10 Midway-Class Carriers

18 Praetorian-Class Crusiers

28 Sheppard-Class Destroyers

40 Mercury-Class Frigates

6 Tallmadge-Class Stealth Corvettes

30 GST Mk IIIs

16 Archangel Mk 2 repair ships

1 Antwerp-Class mobile dockyard

48 Taurus-Class Assault Ships

8 Kodiak IID Support ships

"Hmm, seems like quite the force that's been put together." Scipio quipped. "All told, over 1.8 million GDI army and Marine units along with Special Forces units and Commando units would certainly be able to hold their ground in combat until we could assemble a reinforcement group. The amount of firepower in terms of the number of ships and the volume they can pull out is also quite immense. I dare say this is one of the best groups we could field in terms of overall performance."

Masters thought so as well considering everything. It was quite a formidable force since they had several of GDI's strongest ships which gave it a powerful punch with both the firepower of the combined ships and the amount of fighters that could deployed in sorties against enemy fleets or planet side units to support ground invasions. Of course, some in GDI would want an even bigger fleet to go through the wormhole in order to make sure that any enemy force could destroyed as soon as possible so GDI could set up a base.

After all, GDI does embody the phrase, "There's no kill quite like overkill".

"I'm thinking of having Admiral Raven in command of the battlegroup." Masters said after looking over the available ships.

"Good choice sir, Raven has proven himself a level-headed leader and is a good choice for starting friendly relations with anyone willing to open up diplomacy." Scipio had gone through several choices for whom would be the best choice for the journey. Charles Raven, a British-born admiral had been in command of a squadron of Arizona-Class battleships during the opening the Fifth Scrin War when they assaulted the Epsilon-Gamma system. While the battleships except for Raven's ship the _California_ hadn't been upgraded due to the need for resources in the fight against Neo Nod, they were able to delay the Scrin advance in order to begin civilian evacuations from the system. One of the planets, New Rotterdam was the main base of GDI in the system which hadn't gotten much in the way of available ships due to it being in one of the lightly defended sectors in GDI.

Raven's solution? Lure the Scrin forces into a trap by using some of the derelict ships that were slated for scrapping and filling them with Nuclear weapons.

They had strapped engines to the old hulls, equipped them with upgraded shield generators in order to help them get closer to enemy and kept beaming out communications which the Scrin were easily able to intercept and interpret in their unique language. The Scrin had been pushing hard in the sector as they knew if GDI had a chance to regroup, they could respond with overwhelming force which had greatly devastated them in the Fourth Scrin War as they pushed out of the local systems with millions of their drones and workers destroyed during that war. This had caused the leader of the assaulting force to try and push through as many sectors as possible in to cause as much havoc as possible.

So seeing the small force of enemy ships coming at his fleet, the Scrin commander was ready to plow the small force in front of him.

When the Scrin force had closed with the GDI fleet in front of them and were hammering the old ships, Raven had activated the nukes when they were close enough in order to effect most of the Scrin ships. Both the EMP pulse and the explosive force was able to disable all or most of the enemy ships in the front and threw most of the force into panic before Raven's forces appeared via portal jump and blitzed the enemy fleet. While Raven lost 1 Arizona-Class Battleship (which crashed into a Scrin Dreadnought taking it out and damaged 3 Planetary Assault Carriers), had another crippled, and had 5 ships destroyed and 12 damaged, was able to defeat a fleet 2 times his size.

Following the battle, Raven would be promoted Vice Admiral and continue fighting for the rest of the War, becoming known as the "Savior of New Rotterdam". He would later go on to fight against Neo Nod forces and during the Sixth Scrin War, becoming an Admiral during the Epsilon-Alpha Campaign near the end of the War against the Scrin Hive that they had built in secret since the end of the Fifth Scrin War.

"Scipio, send word to Raven that I've chosen him to command the Battlegroup. He is to report to me at the earliest possible time." Master said after looking through the man's personal file.

"Yes sir," Scipio said, "Sending it right now. Anything else?"

Masters put down his pad as he looked to one of the pictures on his desk. One in particular caught his attention as he picked it up and looked into it with a sense of pride and concern. It was the award ceremony following the end of the Sixth Scrin War with him posing next to a man in his mid 30s with him holding up the Initiative Star of Honor, the highest military award in GDI. The man had short black hair, chocolate brown eyes and a long scar on the right side of his his on his cheek. He was well-built, due in large part to his time as a Commando prior to being deployed to Arcadia. He was in a standard dark green dress uniform with the rank of Battle Commander on his left breast with the Golden stripe. He also had a few other metals on his right breast that were shining in the light of the Main auditorium of the space station where the ceremony had been held. While he was smiling in the photo, he knew that his eyes had held in them experiences that will stick with the man for years if not decades later.

The man in question was his nephew, Battle Commander Cole Masters.

"Scipio, send word also to my nephew in his quarters. I want him to take command of a special Task Force for when the Battlegroup undergoes ground operations."

Scipio was somewhat surprised at that, considering that the man was wanting his nephew to get back into combat considering he had gone into that hellhole 4 years ago. The man was a brilliant commander considering he was fighting a fierce defense against overwhelming Scrin forces. This was well known since his days of leading Commando missions against Neo Nod and during the opening year of the war, proving himself a smart and experienced fighter in battle. His scar had been given to him by a Scrin Drone on Arcadia when he had saved a fellow soldier from death. After Arcadia, Cole had been put into the rank of Battle Commander for his actions during the siege and would lead different units into battle until the end of the war. However, due to his position as Battle Commander, he was unable to undergo the same enhancement procedures as his friends in the Commandos had undergone. This had left the man feeling somewhat bitter at those who told him he couldn't as Battle Commanders were rather rare due to the massive Scrin attacks on several fronts which stretched them thin in terms of skilled officers to lead their forces.

Thankfully, due to his influence, Cole was able to still be in command of his original squad along with other Commando units of either regular or enhanced soldiers.

"I'm fully aware that Cole may still have negative memories about that battle. However, he is still GDI's best commander and considering that we'll be in a new region of space, we'll need to put our best foot forward in terms of leaders. Therefore, I want Commander Masters to join the Battlegroup if the situation ends up going south." Admiral Masters then paused for a few seconds before continuing, "This will also help him get some confidence in his abilities and get him out of his current state. I know he was the potential to be something great and if he overcomes the obstacles in front of him, he may prove to be the next hero GDI needs for when another galactic war occurs."

Scipio did have his own concerns about sending the man into combat again after surviving such a harsh battle for so long. However, the Admiral did know his nephew best and knew that if one was put into a situation that demanded him to preform at his best, he could overcome his past and grow stronger because of it. Humans, while always having the chance that their past could cause them to snap one day and go down a path of misery and pain themselves and others, they could also grow into stronger people was well.

This would be what would have the Commando turned Commander into a new person.

"Understood sir," the AI said at last, "forwarding the message now."

Masters put the photo down as he looked one last time at his nephew's face. _'I know this will be hard for you Cole and you may question yourself going forward. But I know you'll find a way forward.'_ He thought to himself.

Then a smile appeared on his face. _'You always have.'_

* * *

 _"Scrin forces incoming! They're really pushing us!"_

 _"Bravo Company is reporting heavy losses! They need reinforcements!"_

 _"I DON'T WANNA DIE HERE!"_

 _Cole..._

 _"Casey! Get your squad together and get our boys out of there!"_

 _Cole..._

 _"DAMMIT WE CAN'T KEEP THIS UP! WHERE THE HELL IS THE NAVY!?"  
_

 _Cole._

 _'DAMMIT... HOW MUCH LONGER CAN WE KEEP THIS UP?'_

 _"COMMANDER HELP US!"_

 _"We'll get out of here Case, I know we will..."_

 _Cole!_

Cole soon awoke out of his dream in shock as he jolted out of his bed. The memories of the siege still engraved in his mind after years of peace. He still could hear the cries of wounded and dying soldiers in the trenches and buildings they defended with such ferocity. The sounds of Scrin infantry tearing into his units as they made their last push to destroy his forces before the Navy came and finally broke the siege of the planet. The sound of gunfire from small arms to artillery raining across the battlefield where they stuck from during their guerrilla strikes on Scrin bases.

It was his own slice of hell that planet, and he wondered at times if he did do the best he could have with what he had.

"Cole, you alright pal?"

He turned to his left and saw a familiar projection on his AI friend, the one that stuck with him since his 16th birthday. The AI was made to look like a US soldier from Great World War II, with the standard issue khaki uniform with his kit on his back. He had his M1 helmet, which normally would be on his head, held in his right hand by the strap that would hold it in place. He also had an M1 Garand, the quintessential firearm that American soldiers wielded into combat against their Soviet enemies in combat from Europe to the Pacific islands on his back with him holding it by the shoulder strap. He also had a Colt M1911 on his right hip in a holster next to 2 Mk2 grenades. He had short cropped hair on his artificial head and dog tags on his neck.

This was Cole's personal AI and his unofficial "brother" that had stood by him for years, Wesley or better known as Wes.

Cole breathed out a bit before putting his right hand to his forehead as he calmed down. "Yeah, just another nightmare about that battle." He then sighed heavily, "I honestly don't think I'll ever get over that battle as long as I live Wes." He had been having some nightmares about that for a while now, always having him wake up suddenly when he least expects it. This has caused him to go to veteran treatment centers in order to get help for dealing with his PTSD if he was to continue serving in the military. While some may want to retire from service after the war they fought in, Cole wanted to continue as his old friends in the Commandos, who were now Centurions after getting the augmentations needed to become a member of that section of the Commandos.

"It's going to be fine Cole." Wes said in a calming tone. "I know how much you've gone through on that planet. Hell, me and the other soldiers that were there that survived know how harsh and unforgiving it was for all of us. I don't think that Casey or the others don't also feel the same way you do about that siege. It will stick with everyone for God only knows how long, but we, and by that I mean you need to start moving on from that otherwise you wont be able to preform at 100%."

He then gave a big smirk, "Besides, can't have my best friend quit on me, it wouldn't look good to everyone else and your grandpa."

Cole then let out a little chuckle, it always seemed Wes's quips were what he needed in order to get himself calm. He knew that while Wes had his good, genuine moments, he was a joker at heart (or rather in his core programming). He always had ways to get some jokes in during certain moments where a little humor could ease the tension. He was glad to have him around prior to him taking tests back in collage and high school when he had been stressing over how well he could do on them even with all of the studying he had done.

Now once again, it was that same sense of humor the would always bring a smile to the man's face.

"Thanks for that Wes." Cole said as he got up from his bed and went to put on his Commander's uniform. "So, anything new today from either my uncle or the other high-ranking commanders?"

"Actually yes," Wes said while putting his helmet back on. "Admiral Masters wants you in his office ASAP. It seems he wants you to join Battlegroup Jutland on their expedition. It seems that he wants us to lead our forces if we come across anymore hostile aliens that wish for our destruction. Or in his own words from what Scipio has sent me, "Put our best foot forward against any new enemies"."

"Nice to see Uncle Raymond understands my value in terms of my skills." Cole was now putting on his uniform's sleeves then began to button them up. "It's not as though I'm surprised if anything, I figured that they might need some skilled commander to lead the force. However, I should have guessed that my uncle want me to join this expedition." After putting on his uniform, Cole then walked over to his desk in order get a special item of his. It was a special fusion katana that was specially made for him that was well-balanced, lightweight, and had an incredibly sharp blade. He started to wield the weapon in combat since his days fighting Neo Nod in battle before the Sixth Scrin War, allowing him to cut down even Nod Cyborgs with a strong enough swing. While he hadn't been able to fight on the frontlines as much due to his position, he had kept up his training in order to keep himself sharp and ready for when he would go back into combat.

"You're not concerned about it there pal?" Wes said after fitting his helmet on.

Cole picked up the sword and then clicked it onto his belt. "I know I'm still dealing with the memories of that battle, of that hell. However, if GDI needs me to serve and protect humanity whenever a new enemy arises, I must answer that call. I can't stand around and let others fight and command while I stay behind. If my uncle wants me to join the mission, I can't say no." Cole then walked up to a mirror to check himself out in its reflection. His hair was a little unkempt put after taking out a comb and brushing his hair, his appearance was more professional. "Besides, this may be want I need in order to help me grow into a better leader."

Wes soon smiled at his longtime friend. He knew Cole was a lot stronger then most people back from the missions they did against Neo Nod where he always faced down whatever him and his team faced. He knew that Cole may not have gotten over his PTSD yet, but when the situation called for it, he would go into battle with his sword held high and with a determination to win at all costs.

Cole then went over to his bureau and picked up special sunglasses of his and put them on his face. Wes then beamed a light at a spot on that frame which allowed him to upload himself into Cole's sunglasses. Then he appeared on the inside lens along with other information that was displayed to the skilled Commander. "So," Wes said with a smile, "ready to go?"

Cole then stepped outside into the hallway as the door closed behind him as he put a smile on his face. "Let's do this old friend."

* * *

 _Sometime Later..._

"Ah Commander, good you could join us. I believe you remember Admiral Raven from the Epsilon-Alpha Campaign?"

Cole stepped into the room as his uncle sat at his desk while another man stood in front of him. The man in question was in his late 40s physically (of course due to the advanced medicine was older in mind then body) with short light brown hair and blue eyes on his face. He had the air of a nobleman from an important family, standing perfectly straight and with great composure. He regarded Cole with a critical eye, seeing if the man was ready for the mission ahead of him. He could tell Cole was focused and determined to see things though, just like he had seen before during the war.

Cole then saluted the man as he came to attention. "Sir!"

Raven smiled at him, seeing that his old flame hadn't died yet. "At ease my good man, its good to see you again Commander. I hope your time off hasn't affected your skill." He then walked up the man and raised his right hand, "I hope we can work together well in the future during this historic mission."

Cole took the Admiral's hand and shook it, "Thank you Admiral, I hope we can make this mission work for us and for GDI."

Masters then gestured to a of seats to his right. "Please Commander, Admiral, take a seat, there's something important I wish to speak with you about."

Cole and Raven walked up to their seats and sat down in them, facing the main leader of GDI's Military. Both of them had neutral looks on their faces as they were ready to hear what their leader had to say.

"Now, I already sent a message to the other main leaders of this expedition as well, but I want to tell both of you this directly." Masters said with a grim look on his face. "This mission is not only to explore a new region that humanity wouldn't have been able to explore yet, but to also find new allies for GDI for both dealing with the Scrin and the Neo Brotherhood. I know that so far we've been able to defeat both forces on our own but for how long can our advantage over them last? If anything, considering that the Scrin still found ways to hit our least defended colonies during the last two wars, it maybe a matter of time before they come up with a way to steamroll our forces before we can find someway in order to counter them and effectively fight back. This is why GDI needs to find allies we can work with in order to not only have extra manpower, but to also find new ways to defend ourselves and new technologies that could help push as forward."

"However, considering GDI's past track record with aliens, it may prove itself to be uphill battle. Our mentality ever since the spread of Tiberium during the 21st Century as made us become far too paranoid to any outsiders. It has made us isolationist and possibly arrogant from an outsider's point of view, not that have encountered anyone else out there to come up with something like that. Simply put, we need to start changing that very mentality unless we want to create even more enemies for us to fight. While I'm confident in our men and women in uniform to fight to their fullest abilities, I don't want for us to waste lives in a pointless war against beings we could work with. That's why I'm glad that we have someone like Director-General Knight in charge, she's level headed and open-minded. Those are good qualities to have if we are to open up negotiations with new parties and hopefully secure a military alliance with any one."

"It's the Secratary of State and InOps you're concerned with isn't it sir?" Raven asked bluntly.

Masters solemnly nodded, "InOps current head, Admiral Alexander Maxwell is a good man in terms of getting information needed for GDI's victories against our enemies and to prevent anyone from seizing power under the government's noses. However, he is also known to take offense when anyone tries to affect InOps due to him working tirelessly in order to have us not fall so easily for Neo Nod's trick much we need when Kane was still around during the previous Tiberium Wars. He especially doesn't want a disaster much like the _Philadelphia_ again nor does he want GDI to caught with its pants down and suffer for it. Plus, he is also very much known for keeping tabs on anyone that is in his eyes a threat to GDI's power and influence in the galaxy. If any future allies of ours attempt any stunts that end up hurting InOps or GDI for their own selfish agenda, Maxwell may try to find ways to retaliate or threaten our new allies. At least he could end up going against another intelligence group and focus his attention on dealing with any underhanded tricks they may pull against us. That may end up with said organization and whoever is its head in hot water with its leaders and may lead to them being shut down or humiliated completely. Or worst case scenario, they may soon get a visit from InOps sending some of our Centurion and Legionary Commandos knocking down their door and knocking the head of that group down from their high horse. If that happens, we'll need to find a way to stop it fro escalating to that point or further and prevent them from becoming our enemies at any cost."

"Of course, my biggest concern is Secretary of State, Johnson Turner. The man is shrewd, calculating, and someone that will try to pull people under his, and by extension, GDI's mindset by force. He has proven himself to be someone not to underestimate in the political field, considering he was able to chose governors and administrators to preside over planets that were in trouble during the fighting with Neo Nod and during the chaos that was caused during the Scrin Wars. However, he may push for his own agenda in order to get certain people to be swayed to see things the same way we do, making them as aggressive as we are right now and see things in a narrow-minded viewpoint."

Master's gaze hardened at both officers, "I can not stress enough that must not find ourselves isolated from other races that aren't the Scrin or would follow Neo Nod. So I'm asking you two try and make good first impressions with new races and beings, make them see that GDI is open to talking terms with other races and is seeking to establish a good relationship. If anything, I'm certain that the Director-General will find a way to make things work. However, if Turner finds a way to play things to his advantage or there ends up being those from the other races that want to see about pushing us around or find ways to try and force us to accept their views and terms if they happen to be a galactic power with more worlds then us and a larger military, it may lead to things spiraling towards us being alone yet again or worse fighting new and unknown enemies. So please do try and make sure that you find ways that can get us started on the right footing and hopefully we can make something of this. Plus, there maybe those in the military that may push for us to take them over in order to get access to their resources and technology, so we'll have to keep an eye on those that may push for this type of agenda."

Both Raven and Cole were now a little nervous considering the stakes of their mission now. They were among those in GDI that were for trying to lessen the usual paranoia that GDI had regarding outsiders when they had heard of the wormhole and how it could led to another part of the galaxy or the universe in general. However, the more conservative individuals in the government and military were concerned that it could lead to new enemies emerging from the wormhole to attack GDI while they're still focused on building the damage done following the end of the Sixth Scrin War. This is what led to Director Knight ordering the Sixth Fleet to defend the wormhole from anyone attempting to go through and attack GDI colonies before the military could counterattack. Of course, some in the government were acting much like warmongers, wanting to take over whatever races could beyond the wormhole and take their resources to fuel their war machine. Others in the government wanted to try and make peace with any new species, wanting to move on from the mentality that has ruled GDI for so long regarding the unknown.

If anything, how they did in making contact and establishing good relations with new races my in fact be what makes the path GDI goes down.

Admiral Raven then spoke up, "We understand Admiral, this mission is far more important then we had first thought. It makes sense that even with Earth now no longer inflected by the Tiberium and it running rampant on her home world, we still have maintained that old way of thinking from those dark days. We'll try our best to make sure that our mission bears fruit and that we can start a new change in GDI as a whole. We will not fail in this mission sir."

Masters smiled sightly at the Admiral's declaration, "Thank you Admiral Raven, and I'm fairly certain you also understand Commander?"

Cole simply nodded, "Yes sir, we'll make sure that things go smoothly if given the chance. As long as the new races play ball with us we'll make this work."

"Excellent news." Masters then stood up and faced them both down. "Now before you can start packing your things and get ready to broad the ships I have one last thing to add. Cole, due to the fact we are going into the unknown, I'm assigning you command of Centurion fireteams Praetorian, Reaper, Blacklight, Eclipse, Mystic, and Ghost."

Coel raised an eyebrow at that. He was glad he would still be able to personally command Praetorian again since that was his old squad when he was still a Commando, but to also be in command of that many Centurion teams was quite a revelation. A single Centurion team was easily able to deal with most enemies in battle due to both their incredible abilities due to both the augmentations and the boosts that the Mk 3 ICS gave to them as well. However, multiple Centurion teams were capable of carrying enough firepower a start a small war against a large enemy force or a large enough country by themselves. It was overkill, but it was GDI's standard procedure to overwhelm the enemy with superior units and firepower.

"Understood sir, I'll use them their fullest abilities." Cole said with an air of determination.

"Very well then," Masters said with an air of authority, "you both know your mission. Good luck and Godspeed gentlemen. Dismissed!"

Both military men stood up and saluted their commanding officer, "Sir!"

* * *

 _7 Seven Hours Later..._

The _Olympus_ and the rest of the battlegroup was now in front of the wormhole with the Sixth Fleet still guarding the entrance. The fleet was on stand by alongside the Ion cannon satellites and Ionized rail-gun satellites positioned to fire at the first enemy ships that come through the wormhole if they were to become hostile. From the mighty _Odin-Class_ battleships to the small but tough _Mercury-Class_ frigates, the whole of the fleet was on standby in order be ready for any attacks or to be deployed into the wormhole if needed. Transport craft were moving from ship to ship with wither moving crews or officers in between ships for personal meetings on board the ships they were going to.

This would be the last force that would see them off on their journey into the region beyond.

"Take it all in Commander." Raven said to Cole as they saw the ships pass by them as they went closer and closer to the wormhole. "These will be the last friendly faces until we return with hopefully some new allies."

Cole simply nodded, he knew that this mission had to succeed if GDI wanted to find its place in the wider universe.

"I take it you both are ready to take off?"

Both turned to face the captain of the _Olympus,_ Sixth Scrin War veteran Captain Russel Blake. Blake was originally the commander of the _Odin-Class_ battleship _Thor_ during it's famous battle at Alpha Centari. After his captain had been knocked unconscious during the battle, Blake was able to continue the fight against the Scrin and used up almost all of the ship's munitions against the Scrin strike group. The 53 year old had slightly tanned skin with dirty blond hair and green eyes. He was of good build and was over 6 feet in height. While he was serious in battle, he acted with care about the men and women under him, with them seeing the man as a father-like figure.

When the _Olympus_ was finally finished, he was chosen to be the man that would lead it into the battles that she would face, be it from old or new foes.

"Indeed Captain," Raven said with no measure of confidence, "prepare all ships to enter the wormhole."

"Aye sir." Blake said as he turned to his crew. "All hands, prepare for entry! We're making history here ladies and gentlemen!"

All hands on the desk began to go through the final procedures before they could finally start moving and truly begin the mission that could bring GDI into a new era.

"All engines at full power!" One sailor said aloud.

"Weapon systems at 100%!"

"Firestorm shield 100% and running!"

"All aircraft squadrons are accounted for standing by!"

 _'Excellent, it's finally time to begin this mission'_ Raven said to himself. "Daniel, are all things set to go?"

An green colored AI appeared on the Holo-projector in the middle of the bridge. It had the appearance of an American soldier from Great World War One. It had the uniform that Americans at time wore when they deployed to fight Germany overseas, complete with the hat that the soldiers wore on their heads. He had a M1903 Springfield bolt-action rifle on his back and held on it by the shoulder strap and had on his left hip an M1911 pistol in its holster.

"Yes sir," Daniel replied "all ships are on standby and awaiting orders."

Wes, allowed to enter the _Olympus's_ mainframe earlier appeared right next to him with a smile on his face. "Well brother, looks like the three of us are back in action again."

Daniel turned to his AI brother and nodded, "Indeed, let us preform to the best of our abilities."

Cole's holo-display on his watch appeared with a message that was sent to him. He looked down and smiled when he saw the individual that had sent the message to him. He then pressed the icon and the full message appeared to him.

 _Time for us to make history yet again huh Cole?_

- _Captain Casey "Havoc" Parker_

Cole soon turned off the hologram as he looked ahead to the wormhole as the whole battlegroup was awaiting orders to go into it. This would be his first command in a while since the end of the Sixth Scrin War. This time though, he would have an entire fleet behind his forces and they wouldn't be put the same damn position again.

 _'Once more into the breech.'_ He thought to himself.

"All ships!" Raven commanded via an open channel to his group, "Move out!"

The ships of Battlegroup Jutland moved forward, the fusion engines on the back of the ships flaring a bright blue as they went inside the wormhole. First the _Olympus_ passed through the wormhole as the rest of the ships soon followed. The inside of the wormhole was a rainbow of different colors swirling around the ships as they continually moved through it. About 20 minutes in, all things were going well as the ships were going along considering all things. The crew were going about their usual system checks on the ship's systems in order to make sure the wormhole wouldn't cause any negative effects on the ship upon exiting and reaching their new destination.

However, the wormhole was fluctuating.

"Sir, the wormhole is fluctuating. It's structure is falling apart!" Daniel reported. The AI was taken aback by the speed that which the wormhole was falling apart. He had heard from scientists from G-Labs that previous scans of the wormhole had been said that it was stable for travel between regions. The quantum particles they detected from the wormhole suggested that it would at least not lead to something such as possible time travel, so at least they won't have been able to alter events in any way.

The crew now began to hang on to something in order to prevent them from being knocked around.

"Can we use the Portal jump to escape?" Cole said with regency.

"It wouldn't work! If we tried to due that, we could split our atoms apart and fling them across the galaxy or worse! We don't have a choice but to brave things out!"

Cole cursed, he couldn't believe that this would be what finally did him in after surviving so many combat missions and battles. To think that the thing that would finally end him would be a simple dysfunctional wormhole. He wasn't a religious man, but mentally he hoped that the Lord would see him and the rest of the battlegroup through this and they could continue their mission.

"EVERYONE, HANG ON!" Daniel yelled to the whole of the crew before all they could see was white.

Then, the white faded away, giving itself to darkness.

* * *

 _Meanwhile..._

" _Mayday mayday mayday, this is UNSC FFG-201 Forward Unto Dawn, requesting immediate EVAC, survivors aboard. Prioritization code Victor 05-3 Sierra 0117_."

Cortana sighed for seemed like the thousandth time since she and her partner had been stuck in this situation for nearly four years. After finally destroying the flood and leading the way for peace between the Sangheili rebels and the UNSC, she and humanity's greatest hero Spartan II John-117 had been left adrift in space after their ship had been broken in two during their escape.

She looked to her left to see the legendary Spartan still inside his cryotube, waiting for when she would wake him up. She couldn't help but think back about how much the child-soldier turned hero had gone through. From being abducted by ONI as a candidate for the Spartan II program, to completing his training to fighting the Covenant where ever he was deployed. He has faced down impossible odds alongside his fellow Spartans and and humans in battle, his legendary luck holding true to this day. Even with the Flood emerging, he was able to fight alongside Arbiter Thel'Vadum of the Sangheili and eventually found a way of destroying the Flood without activating the Ark. It was a testament of not only how skilled and powerful Spartans were but also the dedication that they had to protect humanity at all costs.

Yes, the Spartan had proven himself to be the savior the galaxy needed.

Cortana could only hope that the UNSC would eventually find their wreck and bring them home to Earth. Of course, she was now thinking that she wouldn't be able to go back with him as she would eventually undergo rampancy since she was getting closer to her limit of 7 years until she would start tearing herself apart as her coding would break down she would eventually disappear. Of course due to how close they were as partners after everything they have gone through, he would end up risking himself in order to save her no matter what. She just hoped that he could move on from her if the worse was to happen and not be stuck on her after she would "die".

 _'I honestly hope someone tries to find us soon.'_ she thought, _'Just hope its someone that's friendly.'_

Little did the famous AI realize that her prayer would be answered with a possible new ally for the UNSC and a new destiny for her and the Spartan.

* * *

 **Okay, finally I'm done with the first official chapter for this story!**

 **I hope you guys along with this story as much as Remnant of Flames as I'm planning on making a sequel to this with adding in another franchise into the mix.**

 **Anyway, this chapter introduces several OCs that I've made that will be leading the charge to establish friendly relations with the UNSC and some that may prove to derail said talks for their own agendas. Now for a reason as to why this is, I was inspired by another person here on the site that PM'd me to try and do a little political fighting concerning certain factions in both organizations. Since GDI has been fighting against Tiberium, Nod, and the Scrin for more then 200 years, they've developed a bit of an isolationist and aggressive mentality. This means that they've gained an idea of aggressive actions and harsh rhetoric, which from an outsider's point of view my make them seem to be warmongers and paranoid individuals (later of course due to all of the shit they've had to deal with). So this will come into play and cause the idea of an alliance between the UNSC and GDI to be in question depending on the actions of certain people.**

 **I mean, whenever the UNSC has encountered the unknown, which group has been the main ones to look into it? And who is in current command of said group who is much like her predecessor and teacher?**

 **So yeah, expect THAT group to cause some problems with a certain group in GDI. (guess which groups I'm taking about)**

 **Anyway, yes this is around the time of the story of Halo 4, but with a twist concerning certain characters and some in that game not showing up (mainly a certain "Captain" being replaced with someone that I may bring back via the UNSC's incredible medical tech). Also, expect the wormhole incident to lead another ship being found earlier then expected. Also, perhaps another splinter group we know from Halo may be the main antagonists in this story, so look forward to some BRUTAL smackdowns!**

 **...I'll see myself out the door.**

 **So yeah that should be it for right now, expect chapter 3 in the coming weeks at the earliest.**

 **This is Blazblade signing off.**


	3. Chapter 2: A Legend Reawakens

**Ok, here's the next chapter where GDI finds the** ** _Forward Onto Dawn_** **and Chief and Cortana meet a new power.** **I don't known anything and this story is for entertainment purposes.**

* * *

 _Chapter 2: A Legend Reawakens_

 _"Sir, we've rebooted all systems, we're good to go."_

 _"How many casualties?"_

 _"Just some minor injuries, no one is dead on any of the ships."_

"Ugh." Cole began to get his vision back as he began to get himself up. His body felt sore, a sign that he must have been knocked around a bit after the white light. His arms pushed against the floor of the _Olympus's_ bridge as he pushed himself up.

Soon he felt someone helping him up. He turned to see the communications officer of the ship helping him up. Ensign Sheryl Williams, a 24 year old enlistee with red hair and green eyes helped the veteran commander back on his feet. "You alright Commander Masters?" She said slight concern.

Cole was able to steady himself as he found his center of balance. "I'm fine Ensign Williams. Your concern is noted but I'll live." He was feeling a bit better now as his head cleared a bit, seemingly he had no concussion which would put him out for God only knows how long or effected his decision making. He looked around to see that other members of the crew were also getting help from those that had gotten up earlier. Thankfully from what he could see, their were no major injuries among the crew. He also saw Admiral Raven and Captain Blake in front of the holo-table and speaking with both Daniel and Wes about what happened.

"So half of the battlegroup is gone completely!?" Raven said with urgency in his voice. "Were they broken apart by the anomaly or they sent to another region of space?"

"Our data is inconclusive at this point sir." Daniel said with a frown on his face as he paced on top of the table. "By all accounts, that breakdown in the wormhole's structure took me and Wesley by surprise. However, we did catch frantic communications from all ships in the group prior to all systems shutting down and all crew members falling unconscious. Thankfully, we both managed to secure ourselves inside the system prior to rebooting the ship so that way we didn't have our programming affected by some unknown factor caused by the breakdown."

"So what are we looking at in terms of possible scenarios with the other half of the battlegroup?" Raven said with concern for the men and women that vanished suddenly. Hundreds of thousands of soldiers and sailors were on those ships along with their equipment. Raven didn't want to have to write home so many families about the possible deaths of their friends and loved ones by some malfunctioning wormhole. It would break their hearts to know that not only did they die, but they died because of some miscalculation that GDI scientists had made regarding the wormhole's stability. That would in turn cause a massive uproar with the families and they would call for the scientists to be punished or kicked out of their jobs for the deaths of their loved ones.

"Worse case scenario," Wes said while looking at a holographic projection of the remaining ships in the fleet, "the ships in question are either destroyed due to the breakdown of the wormhole causing a molecular destabilization in their structure which disintegrated the ships and their crews instantly. Best case scenario? They've been flung to another area of this region of space and suffered the same problems we had."

Captain Blake then spoke up, "Well if anything, let's hope that we've only been separated from them. The sooner we find those ships and link back up, the safer I believe the battlegroup will be since we're unknown territory. Speaking of which, any idea where we are currently you two?"

Wes and Daniel began to pull of star charts and began to use the sensory package on the _Olympus_ in order to triangulate their position in space currently. This way, if they can spot any nearby planets, stars, or even systems that scientists have found throughout the decades, they could start to build a rough estimate of their position in relation to any celestial bodies. Due to their heavily advanced programming and with them both working together, they were able to get enough data to determine their position in space.

However, they were surprised to see that there were quite a few familiar objects in space.

"What did you two find?" Raven spoke up.

"Um, sir me and Daniel went through all of the data we gathered about all objects and phenomena that we could detect using the ship's sensor array." Wes said with a hint of surprise in his voice. "When we then cross-referenced them with the star charts that have been made over the years, we found out where we currently are. To say we were surprised wouldn't be enough."

"Well where are we?" Blake said in direct tone.

"Sir," Daniel spoke up for his brother, "we're still in the Orion Arm of our galaxy."

Cole had walked up to the table to see what the four were talking about after he helped with getting other crew members back on their feet and checking for injuries. He had gotten to the table as soon as Daniel had said his sentence. He was also taken aback much like the captain and admiral at the news. While he was glad that they were still in their section of the galaxy, it also worried him quite a bit. "What do you mean Daniel? That we're still in the same section of the galaxy?"

"Well yes," Daniel simply nodded "however, for some reason in certain areas, I'm detecting planets that shouldn't be there or planets that we have control over that aren't there."

"Wait." Raven said instantly, "What do you mean-"

"Sir, I've detected what appear to be communication frequencies." Williams says aloud.

"Is it the other ships Ms. Williams?" Blake says as three turn their heads to young sailor.

"No, it's odd. It doesn't directly match any known frequencies that GDI units and ships use. Hell, it doesn't even match up with any channels used by Neo Nod or even the Scrin." Williams reported as she scanned through the harmonics. "There is some similarities to the frequencies used by our forces, I'll see about putting up on the speakers, see what the signal is saying." Williams then began typing at her station as she began to change the signal to one that could be broadcast to any of GDI's channels. They seemed to use a special code that was rather impressive to the young officer. Thankfully, Wes was also helping her getting the signal translated.

" _Mayday mayday mayday, this is UNSC FFG-201 Forward Unto Dawn, requesting immediate EVAC, survivors aboard. Prioritization code Victor 05-3 Sierra 0117_."

Everyone in the bridge was taken aback by what the message had said.

"UNSC?"

"That's sounds like a human!"

"There's a ship that needs evacuation?"

All three officers turned to each other with wide eyes as they took in the information.

"UNSC?" Raven said "If its what I'm thinking, the UN could be United Nations. As for the SC part, I'm not sure."

"That's not possible sir." Captain Blake said, "GDI was formed by the UN after the Saddam fiasco with the reveal of Operations Group Echo: Black Ops 9 the general public. If the UN was to have made another organization that was to assist or fight for humanity, we would have known about it." It was true, GDI (which at the time was known as the Global Defense Initiative due to it focusing on Earth) was put in as the main protectors of humanity as the Brotherhood of Nod had become far too powerful for any one nation to stop following the impact of the Tiberium asteroid in 1995. During the time since then and after the Ascension Conflict, GDI had began to allow for all of the World's nations to regain their identities with their various cultures while also having the historical units of the nations being formed in GDI with the same emblems of those units being worn by their original division.

If the UN was to have formed a new military force without GDI's knowledge it wouldn't make any sense.

"Well regardless of the situation, it seems that we may have found a new group of being or at least an organization we can communicate with." Raven said "While there is no doubt that this strange region is both the same and not the same Orion Arm that we are all used to, we'll have to put that thought aside for right now until we can get some answers. If anything, this UNSC could be one of the main powers here and perhaps could tell us what exactly is going on here."

Both Cole and Blake look at each other as they thought about what they should do now. It seemed as though things had now taken a turn for the strange as they are now in a new situation. Certain planets that they knew were gone and new planets had appeared in their place. In their place, were new planets that were unknown to them. This was not what they had expected in their wildest dreams. While they had some idea of what may have caused this event, they didn't want to jump to any conclusions. For right now,they needed help to find where they are and the stranded ship seemed like their best bet.

Cole turned to Wes with a serious look on his face. "Wes, can you see about finding where that SOS is being sent out and make contact with whoever is sending it out?"

Wes smirked as he put away his M1 rifle as he stretched out his projection's arms. "Your wish is my command, Commander."

Cole rolled his eyes as a slight smile came on his face. "Just do it Wes."

Wes soon saluted to his old friend with a genuine smile on his face. "Roger that." Wes then brought up a protection which showed him the local celestial bodies. He then brought up the communication waves that Williams was able to find. If he could trace the signal back to the source, he could be able to communicate with the person who sent out the message. It seemed much like the FTL communications that GDI deploys, able to cross distances at a rate that would make regular radio waves move at the speed of an iceburg . Of course GDI uses special arrays that use the same technology that GDI's Portal drives in which it goes through a different dimension in which it allows it to at times instantly allows for messages to get from one location to the other quickly. Although it isn't has fast as the new Quantum communications array that G-labs was developing ( **think something like the QEC from Mass Effect since it has been said to be instant** ).

He began to triangulate the signal in order to pinpoint the source of the signal, using several planets which he uses to bounce a few signals he himself sent out in order to see if he couldn't single out the source. After a few minutes, the signals were able to build a grid of the sector they were at, allowing Wes to put coordinates in for a possible portal jump to that location and get there within a few minutes.

"Okay... almost there." Wes said as he kept typing until he could finally pinpoint where the signal was as he then smiled. "Found it. Admiral, permission to contact the ship in trouble?"

Raven simply nodded, "Permission granted."

Wes nodded in return as he now began to send out his own signal to see if anyone could get his own. "Attention, this is GDI AI 7084-3034 Wesley to the UNSC Forward Onto Dawn. We have heard your message, are you hearing us?"

* * *

"Hmm... this amount of Cherenkov Radiation is highly unusual."

Cortana was going through some strange new data she had picked up minutes earlier. While she was still beaming out the SOS signal, her limited sensors had been able to pick up a massive amount of Cherenkov Radiation that had spread through the sector the wreck was floating through. She was taken aback by how much her limited systems could detect. It was unnaturally large, along with the strange anomaly she had detected prior as they were drifting a few days ago. Perhaps something had occurred that caused both the anomaly to erupt such a large amount of the radiation.

 _"...your message, are you hearing us?"_

"Huh?" Cortana said aloud. She thought she had heard a voice. Was it possible that finally someone had been able to find them? The voice itself sounded human, much unlike how species such as the Elites were able to speak human languages due to the voices they had when using translators. If it was truly human, then it maybe possible that the UNSC have finally come to rescue them after so long!

Cortana soon began to fix any bugs in the message and converted it to where they could hear it as if it was a UNSC transmission. It was rather simple all things considered as they didn't have much difference in frequencies and patterns, but it did seem on par with their own if anything.

 _"Attention, this is GDI CPA 7084-3034 Wesley to the UNSC_ _Forward Unto Dawn_ _. We have heard your message, are you hearing us?"_

"This is UNSC CTN 0452-9 Cortana of the Forward Onto Dawn, reading you loud and clear." She said with happiness in her voice.

 _"Well, sounds like we're saving a pretty lady there."_ Wes said with a bit of humor in his voice. Cortana couldn't help but roll her eyes, it seemed the first being she came into contact with in four years was a joker judging by his attitude. If anything, it seems despite his seeming jovial nature, he seemed to be rather capable AI.

However, she was interested in the group he maybe affiliated with. _'GDI?'_ she thought to herself. _'I don't believe there's a group in either the UNSC or any Insurrection group with that acronym. Plus Wes does sound like a human, but it couldn't be possible that there's another human faction. Unless... they come from another galaxy.'_ It was the best idea that the smart AI had on her at the moment. Of course, she and John would end up finding out from Wesley and his comrades so for now they'd need both parties to meet up.

"Well I'm just glad someone finally got my message. I'll send coordinates to your ship right now if you need it."

" _No need_ ," Wes said, " _I already calculated the proximate area you're currently in while I was searching for the origin of your signal. I wanted to see about getting my fleet's ships to your position as soon as I made contact with whomever_ "

Cortana had to admit, Wes was skill if he was able to find her that quickly. It seemed that this "GDI" must have some rather advanced AI in its ranks. She did want to ask him more, but she figured that maybe they could him or his comrades in person. Not only that, but she did want to get both her and John off of the wrecked ship as soon as possible and get back to the UNSC.

"Very well then, do you have FTL capabilities on your groups ships?" She asked with a quizzical tone in her voice.

" _Yep, falls within our range. We'll be there in one FTL jump to get you."_ Wes said with a smile on his face back at the _Olympus_ _"Is there anyone else with you on-board the Dawn?"_

"Yes." Cortana said, "I'll wake him and inform him that there's another group of friendly humans other then the UNSC."

 _"Wait... d-did you say there's more humans? Are the UNSC humans as well and why is it important that we're friendly?"_ Wes said in a confused tone. He had his own suspicions about Cortana being something like a human, but nothing like this. Sure, there was the Neo Brotherhood, however he was easily able to know the different data and frequencies that Neo Nod could use. Cortana didn't seem as if she was a member of the terrorist group as she never brought up any of the usual rhetoric that he could expect from a member of Neo Nod whenever they confront GDI in battle. Plus she seemed genuinely distressed, definitely making it seem that she was in fact stuck in that ship for a while.

If anything, they definitely needed to find out what the hell was going on.

"Yes, the UNSC are made of humans. Also, about the whole friendly thing if I don't tell him he could think your group maybe part of a group of rebels that the UNSC have been dealing with for quite a while." Cortana said with a little teasing tone in her while at the last part.

 _"Oh, you too. I guess that's one thing we have in common."_ Wes said. It seems that the UNSC must have their own version of Neo Nod to deal with. " _Anyway, I'm going now we'll be there soon."_

"Roger that Wes." Cortana said with a smile. "And thank you."

 _"All in a day's work."_ Wes then cut the connection, leaving Cortana alone by herself yet again.

This time however, she was glad that someone had finally appeared in order to save both her and John from being adrift in the wrecked ship. She soon turned to the cryotube where the Spartan was still asleep. While she could now wake him up, it would be for a peaceful meeting instead of war. She could hope that he would work well with their new friends in GDI until they could get back to the UNSC. She could also hope that he'll make a good impression to GDI as well, showing what the UNSC was capable of and that they could be a good ally. She began deactivating the cryotube and thaw out the legendary soldier so he could be active again.

"Time to wake up Chief, we have a new mission ahead of us."

* * *

 _Back on the Olympus_

"Alright then," Wes said as he brought down his screens and faced his commanding officers, "Admiral Raven sir, I believe we should set off right now to meet with UNSC AI Cortana on board the _Forward Unto Dawn_ and get them to help find our way in this region of the galaxy."

Raven, Blake, and Cole all looked at each other with wary looks on their faces. They had heard Wes's conversations with the mysterious AI Cortana. While Cole had the intention of messing with Wes's coding or messing him up during one of his games after saying that Cortana was a pretty lady, he was focused on the fact that Cortana said their were other humans in this region of the galaxy. It couldn't be possible unless some other species had been created that was very much similar to the ancestors of humanity and that they evolved via similar lines of evolution. If they've been able to get into space much like GDI, they must be a large spacial power in this region of the galaxy. The use of AI also gave away that they must have very advanced technology, perhaps equal to their own level of tech.

Raven then sighed, "Very well then, Daniel send all orders to the remaining ships. Tell them to jump to following coordinates and arranges themselves in defensive formation." While Wes and Daniel were concerned about the Admiral's decision, he turned to them while lessening the serious look on his face as he spoke, "Don't worry you two, this will be once we contact these UNSC personal and and form up near their ship. It will be to place us in a secure position as we help them collect any of their remaining supplies and they gave us any coordinates to their nearest base from which we can speak any high ranking officials from their military or government."

The AI nodded as they were glad that the Admiral wouldn't be jumping the gun so speak and make their new contacts wary about them. "Very well Admiral," Daniel spoke as he relayed the order to all ships remaining in the battlegroup, "let's hope we can also figure out about the rest of the battlegroup and their current position."

"Duly noted Daniel." Raven said to the ship's AI "Don't worry, I'm definitely not leaving behind any of our men and women behind alive or dead. We will get them back safely, even if we have to take down any hostile forces here in this region."

Cole smirked at the Admiral's steadfast demeanor, it seemed much like he saw during the Sixth Scrin War with the Admiral caring much about the people under his command. While he was of upper-class decent (in fact, it was known he was a long-distance relative of Britain's royal family), he never looked down on those serving under them. In fact, he would even get his hands dirty if one of his people was down or get them up and get them help if they were wounded. Cole soon get to his position at the holo-table to observe the battlegroup's remaining ships, determined to find their other comrades.

Lieutenant Nathan Wilson spoke up from his station, "FTL drive all set sirs, ready for Portal jump on your word."

Captain Blake turned to Raven as the latter nodded. Blake then turned to the lieutenant and spoke in a firm voice, "Initiate Portal drive, time to meet our new friends."

* * *

 _Back on the Dawn_

John-117, the Master Chief was finally awake after seemingly years of cryosleep as his eyes opened up and his helmet's HUD came online. The Spartan was a little groggy considering that he has been asleep for four years, as he began looking around the room he was in. He was then able to move his arms around as he checked around to find a way out of the tube. He then groaned aloud as he began to move his body inside the cryotube.

"Easy there Chief, you've been out for a long time." Cortana said while he had put his hands on his chamber's glass.

"Where are we?" Cheif said as he calmed down a little as he was glad to see his partner again.

"We're still adrift on the Dawn." Cortana immediately responded.

"Why did you wake me?" Chief questioned as Cortana brought up the holographic display to open the cryotube.

"Hang on Chief, Bringing your systems back online." Cortana had dodged the second question as she brought the artificial gravity back online. "I've upgraded your armor's firmware while you were out."

"You've been busy." Chief noted with a bit of amusement in his voice.

"Well since you were out like a light, someone had to be." Cortana said with a smile on her face.

The cryotube's glass opened up as the Chief stepped out into the room. He then walked up to the pedestal that Cortana was appearing from. "Seems like old times huh?"

John rolled his eyes as he faced the AI. "Ready to get back to work?"

"Never thought you ask." Cortana said with a smile on her face as he pulled her from the pedestal and inserted her into his helmet. He felt her presence due to his neural implants in his neck as her face appeared from the holographic display on his HUD. He went to grab an MA5C assault rifle from a nearby wrack and equipped it with a nearby M301 40mm grenade launcher. Armed with both this and his M6G Magnum pistol at his waist, he began to walk out of the room and begin going through the wrecked ship.

"Did a rescue team find us?" He said as they kept moving through the ship.

"Well... about that." Cortana said in concerned tone.

"What's wrong?" John said immediatly.

"We've been found yes, but not by the UNSC." The usually cheeky AI said in a serious tone.

"Explain."

"Well, a while ago I had detected a vast amount of Cherenkov Radiation several light years away from us. It wasn't at the levels that slipspace jumps normally incur from either our slipspace drives or the Covenants. I was analyzing the data I was able to gather using the Dawn's damaged systems until I was contacted by a another AI. He called himself Wesley and he had managed to trace my SOS back to us while also managing to set coordinates for their own FTL to bring their fleet to us. He's definitely capable, even though he seems to be a joker all things considered."

"So, a male you then." John replied with a hint of amusement in his voice. While he was concerned about a new group that was unknown to the UNSC to have tracked him down, Cortana didn't seemed worried about whom was coming. He figured she could fill him in as they kept moving through the wreckage of the ship. It was something else though to hear his AI of all people call someone a joker considering how cheeky she could be at times.

"Oh ha ha, very funny there caveman." Cortana said with her usual brand of snark. "Next thing you'll be dealing with is a female version of you when we meet them."

While John enjoyed sometimes bickering with his AI companion, he had to get back on track. "This AI Wesley, who is he with?"

"He said he's part of a group or military that calls itself the Galactic Defense Initiative or GDI. Before you ask by the way, I already checked all records of the Insurrection groups that the UNSC has dealt with over the years. Nowhere does the name and acronym exist." Cortana said with a tone of finality. She had to admit, while Wesley did in fact seem friendly, she wanted to ere on the side of caution just in case their was an Insurrection group that had a similar name. Thankfully, there was no group that had a name with a similar acronym and saying it under a different name.

"Could they be another race not found by the UNSC?" John questioned.

"Nope." Cortana said bluntly, "I think they may in fact be other humans."

Chief was a little surprised but soon repressed it. With all of the things he has done over the decades of fighting the Covenant, it seemed to him that barely anything fazed him anymore. He has gone through so many bloody and destructive battles in his career, seen so many soldiers and Spartans die in the line of duty fighting on the ground, in ships and fighters during space combat, and during missions which were suicidal in the hopes of slowing or stopping the Covenant's advance. However, the idea of another group of humans did interest him all things considered.

As they continued through the wreck of the ship, he then spoke back up, "Could it be Forerunner or Precursor influence?"

"Not sure, both Forerunners and Precursors had watched many species such as humanity grow over countless millennia." Cortana said while thinking about the subject. "It maybe possible they could have taken our DNA as a template and went to different corners of the galaxy in order try and create humans on different planets. Perhaps it was to test them and see if they could develop along similar lines to how we developed."

"So we could be-"

John was interrupted as the whole ship shook as he planted himself to the ground. It was as if some giant floated up to the ship and began to shake it around a little. He was concerned that it was a asteroid or some other type of object floating in space that slammed into the wreck. This concerned him to want to move faster in order to find a working Pelican and get off the wreck as soon as possible.

However, Cortana can popped up on his HUD and began to speak. "Massive Cherenkov Radiation spike! I'm going to guess that must be our new friends."

"Hell of a way to show up." Chief said simply.

"No kidding, I've seen Brutes be more subtle then that." Cortana quipped. She then got an alert as she was being contacted.

 _"Testing, testing, one two three... Anyone home?"_

John heard a voice he hadn't before as Cortana rolled her eyes. "I'm guessing that's Wesley." He said with a deadpan voice. It appears Cortana was right in saying he was a joker if his tone was any indication. Chief was concerned that this meant that this GDI was rather lacking in terms of discipline. Of course, it could still be that much like Cortana, he was someone that acted cheeky in certain situations.

Cortana shook her head as she soon opened the channel to contact Wesley, "Good to see you Wesley, but honestly if I was any other AI I would be questioning your work ethic."

 _"Fair enough, I was just being friendly. Also, you can just just call me Wes, Wesley seems a little too normal for me."_ Wes said while mentally shrugging. He could tell that Cortana was like him in that he was friendly and a joker at times. While he was a little annoyed with how the AI was acting with them since this type of situation needed professionalism, he could tell that he was acting this way because Cortana seemed to be okay with it.

 _"Wes... I swear you are more trouble then you are worth."_ Another male had spoken up with a tired tone in his voice. The new voice then speaks up, _"Is this UNSC AI Cortana I'm speaking to?"_

"Yes." Cortana said quickly, "Who is this?"

" _This is Battle Commander Cole Masters of the Galactic Defense Initiative. Apologies for my AI partner being quite unprofessional, sometimes he can be a LITTLE too cheeky for his own good. Anyway did you manage to get the other personnel with you back on their feet?"_ This Commander seemed to be a more focused individual then Wes all things considered to both UNSC personal. John could tell from the man's tone that he seemed to be a veteran of combat, marking him as a soldier that earned his position in the crucible of combat instead of having connections or political influence.

John then decided to speak up since Cortana already had the line up. "Commander Masters, this UNSC Spartan II Commando Sierra 117. Do you read?"

 _"Loud and clear soldier."_ Cole responded. " _We can see the wreck of your ship form the bridge of our flagship. I'll see about sending a team to collect you and Cortana so we can talk with my commanding officers."_

"Understood." John replied quickly, "We'll meet you with you soon sir."

 _"Copy that soldier, Phoenix out." Cole responded before ending the call._

"Well, that went without a hitch considering our track record." Cortana quipped. "Let's head to the observation deck to see what our new friends have brought in terms of ships.

"Right." The Spartan replied as they continued on.

* * *

 _A few minutes later..._

"Wow..."

Both John and Cortana were now at the observation deck where they could see their new friends from the viewing window. Surprise to say, they were taken aback by the size of both the ships and the numbers of them gathered around them. The smallest ship they could see seemed a little larger then the ONI Prowler used by the UNSC's intelligence branch, perhaps with similar stealth capabilities as ONI's main means of observing enemy positions. From there were ships that were around the size of their UNSC counterparts in terms of frigates, destroyers, and cruisers (albeit Cortana could see that GDI's cruiser was the same size as a UNSC Valiant-Class Battlecruiser. From there, they see ships that were larger then 2 km with two looking as heavily armed transport ships, one ship was looked as if it was a support class ship. The final ones they could see were over 3 to 4 kms in length, looking as ships that would serve on the frontline in a naval fight against whatever opponent that GDI fought. They would also see that two more groups of the same ship were in fact large carriers, with the smaller one seeming to serve a similar role to UNSC's Epoch-Class carrier and the larger one being similar the Punic-Class Supercarrier in terms of size and appearance in armament.

However, the ship that caught their attention most of all was the massive ship in the center of the fleet.

It dwarfed all the others in size, with Cortana scanning the ship to see what dimensions it had. It bristled with weaponry along the hull and on the top of the ship, ranging from point defense weapons to massive cannons and railguns that looked to be for ship to ship combat. Some of the weapons they weren't familiar with in terms of appearance, such as several large dual-barreled cannons along the hull. They could also see several shielded launch areas for aircraft on the side of the ship they could see, no doubt allowing for fast deployment of large numbers of spacecraft. They also saw several small craft flying in between ships, no doubt transports or dropships that were moving around personnel or supplies.

It was definitely the sign a strong, advanced, and well-organized military force.

"Chief, I just scanned some of the ships capabilities from the energy levels I'm detecting from the ships." Cortana then spoke up with a little surprise in her voice. "They also use railgun and coilgun based weaponry like us, but I'm detecting high levels of Ion particles, plasma waves, and something along the lines of anti-matter. The main weapons on the fronts of their ships are massive Ion cannons that could give our MAC guns some serious competition in terms of overall energy output and striking power, along with having the effect of disabling systems on board target ships and weakening enemy shields quickly. I'm also detecting Ion particles inside the railguns on their ships as well."

"Possibly to increase their power and to also cause the same effect as the main Ion cannon on a lesser scale?" John inquired.

"Possible," Cortana said with interest. "As for the anti-matter signals I'm detecting, they must also be used for weaponry as well. Considering how effective the weapons could be against any matter, there's no doubt they could do damage against any ships they would face. Of course, much like us, I'm also guessing they have a large amount of missiles on their ships in large pods from what I can tell. If anything, their ships by maybe more heavily armed then our own ships."

John had to admit, he was impressed with how powerful the GDI fleet seemed to be. If anything, they seemed as if they could be able to take on a Covenant fleet in battle with more success then a UNSC fleet of the same size during the Human-Covenant war. He didn't want to say that his military was completely outclassed as while one side could have advanced weaponry, there always are ways to overcome their weapons if the commanders can see their weakpoints. This was the same thought that Admiral Preston Cole had with him during his famous battles with the Covenant as he managed to pull victories against a technologically superior enemy.

However with this new faction appearing, it seems as though the Covenant may have been put in the situation that they put the UNSC in if they had appeared during the war.

 _"Sierra-117,"_ Another new voice came out of the communication line that Cortana had established with GDI. _"This is Admiral Charles Raven, main commander of Battlegroup Jutland. Do you read?"_

"Yes Admiral." John said with the type of respect that UNSC soldiers would give to their officers.

 _"Well good to hear, apologies about the sudden jump. We're sending a team that should arrive with in 5 minutes. We'll have to meet face to face about the subject of your organization and that we can hopefully open up negotiations with them as soon as possible."_

"Understood sir." John replied with his usual tone, "We also want to learn more about your side as well. Considering that another human organization exists outside of UNSC space, we wish to learn how it could be possible." John wasn't of the mindset that if other humans existed, they should be absorbed into the UNSC without any warning or by force. If they wished to remain independent, that was their choice and he didn't see any problem with it. GDI however wanted to meet with the UNSC, seemingly for an Alliance in order to get perhaps both resources and technologies for their own people and to make a military alliance for if they had allies in a war in the near future. Against what, he didn't know and would have to ask Admiral Raven, Commander Masters and any other military commanders about the subject.

 _"See you then soldier, Raven out."_ Raven then cut the call as Chief began to look into bringing any remaining equipment on board the ship before detonating the wreck. While GDI seemed to be a friendly group, it was critical that no UNSC hardware could fall into the hands of anyone that could use the equipment against them. He would need to inform GDI as to not cause them concern once he did so which could impact things from here on out.

In the distance from the viewing window, he could see an incoming transport coming from the _Olympus (which was the name of the massive ship and rather appropriate considering that Olympus would refer to the famous Olympus of Greek Mythology)_ flying toward the the _Dawn_ , no doubt their ride to get off of the wreck. John then begins to go down to the remains of the cargo bay in order to start packing all of the weapons he could into crates and see about any vehicles that are still in good condition. He figures he can still keep them and bring them back to the UNSC or when needed in emergencies.

"Cortana, when will the transport arrive?" John inquired.

" _About 10 minutes Chief."_ Cortana spoke up. " _I've been trying to get more info on the ships and their weapons, but Wes has been keeping me out and telling me that they'll tell us when we're on board."_ Her tone had a bit of respect in it from what John could tell. It seems that despite the AI's personality and seeming unprofessional-ism, Wes was still quite effective in what he did. If he was able to give Cortana a challenge in terms of cyber warfare, he must be an AI on the same level as her or he must have another ability that Cortana had never seen before. Although if what he had learned from his conversations with the GDI officers, Wes must be the personal partner to Commander Masters much like himself and Cortana. So that was the case, maybe their another AI of similar skill that serves on the _Olympus_ that maybe helping Wes in stopping Cortana from getting into their servers.

John soon opened the door to the storage area and began to put away weapons into crates.

 _'I wonder whom their sending to get us.'_ the Spartan thought to himself.

* * *

 _On the Orca dropship_

Captain Casey Parker, also known by the nickname of his famous ancestor "Havoc", was preforming maintenance on his GD-14. He wanted to make sure his weapon was fully functional before they landed as he had a feeling that things would be going hot soon. He wasn't concerned about the Spartan that his team would go to pick up as Cole had told him and the rest of Fireteam Praetorian that him and his AI were friendlies and just wanted to talk like they did. That wasn't what concerned the Centurion Commando. If there was anything he had learned during his missions over the years, it was to be prepared for the worst when on mission. Since the UNSC ship was wrecked, it told him that they must have been in a serious battle against an enemy force. In fact, Daniel and Wes had sent him information that they could detect scorch marks on the remains of the hull, a result of plasma weaponry from their analysis.

"So Case, what do you think this Spartan looks like?"

Havoc looked up from his work to his teammate, Lieutenant Miguel Vega aka "Jackal". The brown haired, blue eyed man was looking over his fusion sword, looking to see the the energy fluctuation in the blade was operating correctly. Vega was one of the two close quarters specialists in the fireteam with his melee weapons being two fusion swords much like he does. Vega, much like Casey was descended from Ricardo Vega, the famed RAID Commando from the Second Scrin incursion in the years following the Third Tiberium War. He was also armed with with an GD-15 laser rifle, GD-18 SMG on his right hip, Nighthawk pistol on his left, a M64 Grenade Launcher, and 4 four frag grenades and 4 EMP grenades.

Casey smirked a little at his friend's question, "No idea Miguel. My guess is that he must be like us, the best of the best in the UNSC. Since the Spartans were considered the deadliest warriors in the ancient world, these guys must live up to their legacy of being the best." Casey was interested in meeting this Spartan to see just what this soldier was capable of in combat.

"Fair point, wonder if they had their own version of Thermopylae during their war." Vega said while putting his sword away.

Next to Miguel, the team's sniper Lance Corporal Emily Hathcock nicknamed "Jaeger" was calibrating the scope on her GLS-110 Sniper Rifle. "If they did, wouldn't they have all died you guys?" Emily had light brown hair with chocolate brown eyes, which have served her well during her service in the military. She also had on her person a GD-17A DMR for closer range targets, a couple of M710 Claymore mines for laying down traps to protect herself from any surprise attacks, and GD-13 Nighthawk pistols for close quarters combat. Her rifle had dozens of marks on it representing the number of kills she had gotten during her missions.

"Right," Miguel said, "so what do think Emily? What do you think the UNSC fought that got their ship like that?"

Emily shrugged, "Maybe they've fought deadly aliens like we have with those damn robots. My guess is they've been fighting for quite a long time if what Cole said is true. This Spartan-117 sounds like a veteran of decades of combat much like the officers we have that have fought from Fourth Scrin War onward. He must have seen a lot of victories, defeats, losses of follow soldiers and friends in the battles he's fought. We may have to be careful just in case something happens with him."

"Emily is right, but we must approach this with an open mind."

All three turned to see the second close combat specialist and "ninja" of the team, Lance Corporal Hayate Kurogane looking over his fusion katana with a careful eye. The black haired, brown eyed Japanese soldier had gotten top marks for stealth during boot camp and had proven to even catch Nod Commandos off guard at times. He was also armed with a throwing knives, two CK-10 fusion knifes, C-20 explosives, explosive throwing disks, three EMP grenades, a GD-18 SMG, and GD-13 pistol (with Hayate also having suppressors on him for use when needed). Known by his nickname of "Kaze" to those that didn't know his name or were part of the Centurion Program, he is known for moving with the grace and speed of the wind when locking blades with his opponents, which happened several times during missions against Neo Nod.

"This Spartan will no doubt be cautious of us once we meet face to face. We must be flexible in case something happens that may cause things to sour. Although," Hayate turned to his friends and smiled, "I'm fairly certain we can deal with this."

"Ha ha ha! Leave it to our Kaze to act like the wise man he is!"

The team's Zone Commando Corporal Dimitri "Ursa" Harkov, the muscle of the team laughed at his teammate and fellow Centurion. The black haired, blue eyed Russian was the biggest in the squad in terms of physicality and due to his Zone Commando Armor which had a stronger exoskeleton to increase his augmented strength. He had his M5 Gatling Gun next to his legs, as he looked over his FGM-200 Javelin missile launcher. He also had on him his GD-18L SMG, GD-22 laser pistol, and his double bladed fusion axe next to his seat.

"I'm interested to test myself against this Spartan." He said with a smile on his face. "I've been wanting a challenge ever since the end of the Sixth Scrin War to test to see if all of my training paid dividends." Dimitri was always eager for a fight when possible, especially if they were strong like he was. He had fought against several of Nod's cyborg commandos during one mission. While he had suffered many injuries and scars on his body, Dimitri was able to kill four of them and cause the other three (which were badly injured) to flee by the time the rest of the fireteam had arrived on site.

Miguel sighed at his comrade's antics, "Dimitri, you are too battle crazy for your own good. I know part of your training was trying to wrestle large bears, but you seriously need to ease up on how far you push yourself. You maybe augmented, but your not invincible by any means." Miguel and the others had to deal with the Russian's usual desire to push himself to his limits off the battlefield and see how far he can go in combat. He can keep his focus in battle and not get overzealous, but when there is someone that wants to battle Dimitri, he would gladly use the assault to test himself in battle.

"Well, guess some things never change."

The final member of the team is Corporal Cynthia Montgomery, aka "Castor". She was the Tiberium mutant of the team with her armor being specially designed for her to amplify her abilities. She was equipped with a GD-14, two GD-15CCs, four throwing disks, three frag grenades and three EMP grenades, three flashbangs, and two fusion knives. She had short cut blond hair and glowing green eyes which was the main mark of someone being a Tiberium Mutant as the trait of the green crystal on their bodies had become less and less noticeable over the decades. She was reading her books on her holopad to pass the time as they get closer and closer to their destination.

"Hey Cynth," Emily said aloud, "think you would be able to read his mind? I'm not saying he would lie to us once we meet, but just in case."

"Who knows Em." The mutant shrugged while speaking in her British accent, "I'll try it if need be, but I think it could cause him to be wary of us if they can somehow detect it." Since Tiberium mutant had started developing the ability to read minds in the decades following the Ascension Conflict, GDI had focused on developing new technology, serums, and techniques to counter mind reading. There was the possibly that the UNSC hadn't encountered anyone with those type of abilities, so she cold be able to read his mind if need be.

" _Attention, fireteam Praetorian, we are coming up to the Dawn."_ The dropship's pilot sounded over the intercom. " _ETA 3 minutes."_

Casey soon turned to his teammates as he put on his helmet, "Ok people, gear up. Time to meet our Spartan friend." The helmet soon closed up, his visor lighting up green as the HUD came online. Soon his teammates also put on their helmets as they loaded their firearms and put away their melee weapons. It was finally time for them to meet their new contact as they waited for the aircraft to stop.

The dropship maneuvered onto the area near the missile tubes still in operation as the back of the ship opened up. The six man team descended down the rump as their boots magnetically locked to the ship as they looked around for any activity.

Casey turned to the dropship and opened a com channel. "Thanks for the lift, be back within 5 mikes with escort in tow."

" _Roger that_ _Praetorian lead, good luck out there. 426 out."_ The pilot of the A-50 responded.

The dropship soon took off as the Centurions soon walked up to the door as it opened for them with a hissing sound. They noticed that some supplies and weapons were floating around due the lack of gravity.

Miguel took a hold of what looked like a boltpup assault rifle as it floated near him. "This gun looks pretty solid, not what I expected but seems effective in the right hands." He then popped the magazine out as his helmet's scanners scanned the bullets and gun to see the dimensions and materials that made them up.

"7.62mm NATO? Guess it still serves well into their future." He says aloud. "Also, the propellant in the bullets are strong enough to power the tungsten rounds at around hypersonic speeds. My guess is that they might be around our level of projectile weaponry."

"Logan." Casey said in his helmet, "Any clues on the weaponry on this ship?"

In Casey's HUD, a blue colored male appeared to the upper right hand side. He had the look of a Late Cold War era US soldier with the PASGT helmet on his head and had the PASGT combat vest covering his chest area with the collar around his neck. Logan was the personal AI partner of Casey along with being the brother of Daniel and Wes, being the middle brother in the relationship.

"Well from the scans I've been able to get of the ship, I was able to detect the remains of a large coilgun that must have run the whole length of the ship when it was still whole. It would no doubt be capable to producing megatons of power upon impact in the hundreds. Of course considering the reload time in between shots, it must be their main long range weapon system. I was also able to detect remains of large missile pods along with detecting radiation signals. No doubt the latter being a Nuclear missile that would be the ace on the hole of a ship of this size."

 _'So then, they have use of railgun, coilgun, and strong nuclear weapons.'_ Casey thought to himself. _'They might also be able to use Gauss weaponry as well. Not as advanced as I thought, but still the tech they have maybe around or a little less then what we have currently.'_

 _"_ Hold on, getting a new transmission." Logan said, interrupting the Commando's thoughts. "Patching through to you now."

 _"Is this the team that's supposed to pick us up?"_ A female voice came over the comms.

"UNSC AI Cortana? This is Havoc of Centurion Commando Fireteam Praetorian." Casey responded. "Are you and Spartan 117 finished storing away all of the equipment you were able to collect?"

 _"Yes, we'll be meeting you and your team in the storage area of the Dawn, here's a map of the place to get down there."_

Logan received the plans for the wreck of the ship and highlighted the shortest route to the storage area from their current position. "Plans received Cortana, by my estimations, we'll be there in 5 mikes."

 _"Who is this?"_ Cortana questioned.

"This is GDI AI Logan, you met my brother Wesley before."

 _"Wait, you and Wes are brothers? Is that a massive problem in your military?"_

"Nope," Logan responded, "it isn't outlawed in GDI. Just as long as it doesn't end up effecting military operations."

 _"Alright then, well looking forward to meeting you people face to face. Cortana out."_

Logan then spoke back to Casey, "Look's like things are getting interesting Case."

Casey chuckled to himself, "No kidding Logan."

* * *

 _A few minutes later..._

The team is now in front of the door to the storage room, waiting for it to open.

"Okay we're here." Emily said aloud. "When are we going to be meeting him?"

The door then opened up as the team saw the inside of the storage area as they heard footstep coming up to them. The footsteps then got louder as a new figure stepped into the light in the room. It was a being encased in advanced power armor colored green standing at over 7 feet tall (which was taller then Dimitri by a couple of inches). The figure had a large golden visor in the front of his helmet, seemingly looking at them with hardened, calculating eyes. He had the same assault rifle that Miguel had seen before with an attached grenade launcher.

On the other hand, John was a little surprised at the group of super soldiers in front of him. Their armor was sleeker then his own Mjolnir armor with the biggest of them looking more armored then his colleagues. He also noticed what seemed to be a missile launcher on the back of their suits that looked to be used as an over the shoulder weapon system. The weapons they had on them seemed to be a mix of projectile and plasma weaponry, something that caused him to raise a mental eyebrow at how far ahead they are from the UNSC last he saw it. Two of the soldiers had the same kind of primary firearm that looked like it was an automatic railgun do to it's barrel looking similar to the UNSC's Gauss cannon. He could also see some of their weapons had green glow on them, similar to the plasma weapons used by the Covenant during the war.

On their armor's right pauldron, it had a golden circle with an eagle swooping down with its talons out at its prey. On their left one, they had two crossed swords with a Ancient Roman Centurion helmet in front of it. John and Cortana noticed the previous symbol on the side of the GDI ships, so that was no doubt the symbol for the whole of GDI. The Centurion helmet was no doubt the symbol for their particular unit as he had heard Cortana speaking with the AI called Logan and the soldier called Havoc with the latter calling his team Centurion Commandos. It seemed that GDI must have their own version of the Spartan Program since the Centurions were only a few inches shorter then himself in the armor.

The one in the center of the team walked forward with his weapon in his arms, keeping his eye on Chief in case the Spartan pulled anything. "Sierra 117 I take it?" The Centurion said to the legendary soldier.

John nodded, "Correct, I'm Master Chief Petty Officer Sierra 117. I assume you're Havoc whom Cortana spoke with earlier?"

"Yes, Captain Havoc of Fireteam Praetorian." Casey responded while turning to his comrades, "This is my team. Jackel, Jaeger, Castor, Ursa, and Kaze."

Each of the soldiers gave a nod or slight gesture at Chief as Casey named them off. Chief reminded them of the Spartan III's in that they seemed to have more emotion in them then himself and the II's. However, they seemed to be a nit more like the non-augmented soldiers he's worked and fought alongside during the war. _'Could it be that while they are augmented soldiers, they weren't taken in while they were children?'_ he thought to himself.

Dimitri looked to the crates behind the Spartan and spoke up, "Do you need help with getting those weapons aboard our dropship Spartan?"

"No, I'll take care of it. It's not that I don't trust you, I don't want for UNSC weaponry to fall into the wrong hands." Chief responded. "You would understand if it was the opposite situation."

Havoc nodded in response, it was true in that no one in GDI would want their own weaponry to be used by outside sources unless they were given permission or the situation called for it. Of course, GDI weapon makers had included fail-safe mechanisms to prevent enemy groups from using their own weapons against them or prevent the enemy from studying their weaponry. It was a way for GDI to keep themselves ahead of Neo Nod during the war in terms of infantry weapons or heavy armaments and to prevent Nod from trying to reverse engineer their weaponry.

"Understood Chief, I'll inform Commander Masters about this and see about bringing in a larger transport for your equipment." Havoc said while begins to open a line to the _Olympus._

"Couldn't you send that to Admiral Raven?" Chief questioned.

"Well Commander Masters is in command of our fireteam along with several others along with Legionary and regular Commandos. We're attached to his task force as per orders from the higher ups back in GDI space." Casey responded. While it was a strange order to allow Cole access to so many Commando units under his command, most in GDI's high command know how skilled in battle Cole was so it was given the green light.

This had John quite concerned after Havoc spoke. He couldn't help but flash back to how ONI had command of the Spartan IIIs during the war and the terrible losses that had been inflicted on the Spartan companies in the suicidal attacks that ONI had ordered. Operation PROMETHEUS had lead to the destruction of all members of Alpha company to take out a Covenant shipyard. While the shipyard was taken out and considered to be a deceive victory for the UNSC, all Spartans in the unit were killed by Covenant forces. The next incident that ONI made that destroyed another company of Spartan IIIs was Operation TORPEDO, which ONI had gather enough intellgence on to get the Green light by High Command. In the ensuing battle, all but two members of Beta Company, Tom-B292 and Lucy-B091 survived the mission with the latter Spartan losing her ability to speak.

How he knew about this was via Cortana, whom had gotten the information from Dr. Halsey. The Doctor was able to hack into ONI's files and found out about Ackerson's program. From what Cortana told him, Halsey herself was angered at the loss of so many good soldiers and children for the Colonel's own satisfaction.

It had given John anger at the actions of ONI in making the IIIs into cannon fodder that were to give the UNSC more time and to desperately stop the Covenant advance. He also directed his anger at Colonel James Ackerson for not only speeding up the training of the Spartan IIIs which made them less effective in battle. He knew that because of the man's dislike of the Spartan IIs and his tries with ONI due to his connections with Admiral Margret Parangosky which allowed him to go through with any of his personal projects.

"Captain, I understand that you must have respect for your superiors. However, is it the right call to have non-augmented officers in charge both regular and augmented units?" It was a legitimate concern of John since it sounded like Masters was given as much control as

"Are you trying to insult Cole?" Dimitri said with an angered tone. "What makes you the judge of our Commander?"

"Ursa stand down!" Havoc said while putting his right arm in front of the Zone Commando. He then faced the Spartan with a glare hidden behind his helmet. "Look Chief, I don't know what has you have this negative view on non-augmented soldiers being in control of both soldier types, but believe me when I say your concern isn't needed here." Not just him, but the other members of the team were glaring at Chief after they had insulted their previous team leader and one of the best GDI commanders in history. They didn't understand the Spartan's distrust of their commanding officer, but something told both him and Cynthia that there must have been bad blood or a grudge against having regular people in command of regular and augmented soldiers.

"How do you mean Havoc?" Chief spoke in a serious tone.

"That's because Commander Masters was our original team leader prior to us becoming Centurions." Cynthia spoke up before Casey was able to.

John's raised both eyebrows by an inch behind his helmet. He figured that Ursa's reaction was out of place for an augmented soldier if he was measuring them by other Spartans. This made him realize that the Centurions were augmented from regular soldiers. This made him concerned if they were skilled enough to match up to his fellow super-soldiers. However, he was surprised that Commander Masters was their previous team leader. It also seemed that based on their use of his first name, they had high respect and camaraderie for the man. It almost reminded him of how him and his fellow Spartans always cared for each other during their training and on mission.

"I see, apologies for that." Chief replied.

"It's fine Chief, you didn't know." Havoc replied, "If things were different, Commander Masters would still want to fight alongside us. Unfortunately, due to certain circumstances, he's been kept as a Commander due to us still recovering from a war we had a few short years ago. It's a long story and we'll tell you when we get back on board the _Olympus._ "

John nodded in response, he jumped to conclusions too quickly about the Commander. He could understand the Centurion's steadfast defense of the Commander much like he would stand by his team and fellow Spartans. While he would forever hold a grudge against Colonel Ackerson for the Spartan III program and the hundreds of deaths among those candidates, he shouldn't have let it influence his thoughts on Commander Masters after what he heard from Havoc. He seemed like a good Commander when they had spoken after he woke up, definitely not the tone of one who got their position due to political ties.

Dimitri put his hand on the back of his helmet in embarrassment for his outburst. Granted one of the others could have spoken out about it first, but he did it first as he is the more aggressive of the team. "Apologies about that Master Chief, sometimes my aggressiveness gets the better of me with certain subjects."

"Understood." John replied. "So when is the-"

"Chief, massive levels of Cherdenkov Radiation detected! I think it maybe a Slipspace portal opening up!" Cortana interrupted the Spartan.

"Casey!, Large Cherdenkov Radiation bursts! I think multiple ships maybe coming out of whatever FTL they use!" Logan quickly spoke up around the same time as Cortana.

"What is it Cortana?" John quickly responded.

"Scanning now..." Cortana soon scanned the slipspace signature for any clues on the ships that used the system. She then gasped as she saw the data, "Chief, it's the Covenant!"

"Shouldn't that be good for us?" John questioned. Since the Arbiter and his followers had separated from the Covenant and the appearance of the Flood, the Covenant forces had finally made peace with the UNSC. It would make sense that since both him and Arbiter had become allies, perhaps he would want to find him in order to repay him for helping him stop the Flood. While he still was reserved due to the events of the Human-Covenant War, he knew that Thel'Vadum was a being that wanted to make up for the countless number of humans killed by him and other Sangheili.

However, something told John that things were going to be different this time around.

"I'm not sure Chief, four years is a lot of time for things to change." Cortana said, "I'll look into the Covenant's Battlenet to see what's going on."

"Right." Chief replied.

"Say Chief?" Havoc spoke to the Spartan, "My AI Logan is detecting heavy Cherdenkov Radiation bursts. I'm guessing that's the possible FTL drive your organization uses?" When Logan ran through the data that he had picked up from scanning the anomaly, it didn't possess the same radiation levels or space-time tear that the Portal drives that GDI, the Neo Brotherhood, and the Scrin used for their FTL. The only idea they had was that must be the FTL drive that the UNSC and other factions here in this alternate Orion galaxy. There was no doubt the scienists and crews aboard the GDI ships were scanning the sudden radiation spikes and the captains bein concerned about the beings that would emerge from them.

The Spartan turned to the Centurion with a dead serious tone. "Yes, but the ones incoming maybe hostile."

* * *

 **CLIFFHANGER! DUN DUN DUN!**

 **Okay sorry guys. Anyway I'm glad that I could finally get another chapter up for this story after so freaking long. It's been tricky with school lately since I'm taking a hard class this year. However, know that I will still continue this story and Remnant of Flames no matter what. However, a standard upload schedule will be incredibly difficult for the next few months.**

 **Anyway, on to the story.**

 **Good old Master Chief is back on his feet, we have first contact with GDI and the UNSC (well not the actual UNSC but you get what I mean.), and finally the Covenant Storm is set to appear, but this time with a large non-UNSC fleet in front of them instead of just Requiem (don't worry I'll be dealing with the reveal of the Forerunner planet).**

 **I hope you guys like Fireteam Praetorian, I made them to be among the best units that could fight alongside the Spartan IIs. Consider them being able to give the IIs and hard fight and could beat them if they play it right in battle. As for Cole being the previous team leader, this tries in to him being a former Commando and being promoted to Battle Commander due to events during the Sixth Scrin War. They were a close knit group much like Blue Team and the remaining team members still have high respect for him. Tell me what you think of them.**

 **Also, they were part of a few groups of Commandos that graduated. This will come into play with some of the other Centurion teams along with some regular Commando and Legionary units.**

 **What will happen to the Storm this time? Spoiler Alert: They'll get their asses kicked.**

 **Now for an announcement, this will be about weapons in the UNSC. Now I know that we got some new stuff in Halo 4 and 5 (some I think make sense and wonder why such weapons didn't appear in the earlier games like an LMG. Plus I don't hate the look of them), but I want to add in some more stuff for the UNSC in terms of vehicles and firearms. For the latter, there is in fact quite a few cut vehicles that would have been used in Halo Wars that I'll be using with some more variants for them. For firearms, well I have some ideas but I'll probably be using weapons that either originate from other stories (I will be sure to give credit to the creators of the stories they originate from) or by Halo fans on Halo Fanon (Will also give credit to them).**

 **So the UNSC will have quite a few new toys for them on the Infinity and her forces to fight alongside GDI on Requiem.**

 **Now while I would go on about new news that really interests me here, I'll do that for the upcoming chapter of Remnant of Flames since it focuses on Valkyria Chronicles (if you've been paying attention to new updates on VC4, you know what I'm talking about).**

 **Anyway, next chapter will be the first battle between GDI and the Covenant and Chief will fight alongside Fireteam** **Praetorian.**

 **Blazblade signing out! Peace!**


	4. Chapter 3: Raging Storm

**Okay here's the next chapter. I don't own anything and this story is for entertainment purposes.**

* * *

 _Chapter 3: Raging Storm_

Raven was now very much concerned.

While he was glad that he had put the remainder of the Battlegroup in formation after they had emerged from the portal jump, he was surprised to see a new fleet appear out of nowhere. He had his forces focus on the nearby celestial body that was nearby (as close as nearby can be in terms of distances in space), a large, spherical planet. Their scanners had detected massive amounts of energy from the planet, indicating that the planet must be a massive machine with a power source far greater then anything they had seen in their lives before. However, scans also picked up that the structure was quite ancient, millions if not billions of years old from what they could tell. They wen't able to tell if there were any weapons on the planet, but they did detect high levels of solid light indicating the use of hard light technology. GDI had been developing such tech for several decades following the Third Scrin War in the 22nd Century in order to help build more homes for the homeless and to provide uses for military and civilian engineers and were on the verge of bringing the tech into the market. However, they could tell that the solid light photons coming the planet were of higher quality then what GDI had been able to develop so far.

It was far more impressive then any structure that the Scrin had ever built and far larger size then their extraterrestrial enemy could ever build.

However, what caught his attention now was the massive fleet barring down his. From the purple portals that resembled the same wormhole that they had gone through, hundreds of ships were pouring through. The ships that came through were colored sliver and dark purple with the latter being predominant on the hull of the ships. They appeared to be very sleek and streamlined with no edges or ridges in their form with them being very bulbous with the bumps and curves. He could see via the holotable that they had what could be point defense weapons on the hulls of the ships, with scans detecting high levels of concentrated plasma. He also found out that the output they could pick up was quite powerful with a large concentration in the front of most of the ships, indicating that they have a highly focused energy weapon that could be used to attack his ships or be used to burn a planet much like the powerful Tiberium beam cannons on the Scrin capital ships.

Fortunately, it didn't seem as though the new arrival's main plasma weapon weren't as strong as the aforementioned Scrin weapons.

Unfortunately, there seemed to be hundreds if not thousands of ships showing up, ranging from ships that could be considered frigate or corvette class to a tenth of the total ships that seemed to range from only a few hundred meters shorter then the _Olympus_ in terms of overall length to three ships that were in the double digits in kilometers. Thankfully, they weren't in combat formation like his forces were so if it came down to it he could fire first if they appeared to be hostile. Of course, he would try diplomacy if possible so he could avoid a fight. He didn't know if his fleet could take on that many ships and come out without destroying the fleet in the process.

Then again, GDI always had dealt with space battles against the Scrin, which also had outnumbered them so they had more then a few tricks up their sleeves.

 _"Praetorian lead to Olympus, do you read?"_ Havoc's voice sounded over the intercom, breaking Raven's current thoughts on the problem at hand.

"Olympus to Praetorian lead, we hear you loud and clear." Raven said with a calm voice. He didn't want to sound panicked to captain Parker or any of the bridge crew as that wouldn't help anyone keep their cool. He had to set an example of keeping calm under present circumstances in order to prevent sailors with itchy trigger fingers from firing first. He wouldn't need to order the secondary and and point defense weapons to be ready as they all had Mk III EVAs in control of them. In comparison to Dumb AI and Combat intelligence or CIs, EVAs had faster processing power and could calculate different firing solutions faster then the former two. This allowed for GDI ships to counter large Scrin fighter and bomber attacks during the Scrin Wars especially during the Sixth Scrin War with the improvements in terms of reaction time and processing power. Once the enemy had been designated as hostile, the EVAs could turn the weapons against any enemy ships and aircraft that came into range.

 _"Admiral, Spartan 117 and Cortana may have information you may want to hear. Patching them through now."_ Casey said as the comms switched from him to Master Chief.

 _"Admiral Raven,"_ Chief spoke in his normal calm tone, _"the ships you see in front of you belong to a faction that the UNSC had fought a war against for almost thirty years. They are known as the Covenant, a collection of alien races that were united under a race known as the Prophets. They worshiped a race of highly advanced beings that they considered gods, to the point where they caused a holy war against the UNSC for us "desecrating" the sites of their gods."_

"So they made it a crusade then? Much like the the famous Crusades by Christian Europe to retake the Holy Land?" Raven figured if this Covenant were as religious as the Spartan was making them out to be, they must have wanted to rid the UNSC from their holy sites. However, he knew from history that holy wars would result in one side wanting to slaughter the ones they considered blasphemous in their eyes.

 _"Yes sir,"_ Chief replied, _"they ended up waging a war against us, intent on wiping humanity from existence. For nearly thirty years we fell back further and further with every planet lost being glassed and losing billions of lives in costly victories or crushing defeats. We were only able to_ survive _due to a split in their forces which we took advantage of and worked with the separatist forces in order to finally end the main prophets and at last bring the war to an end after losing over 23 billion people."_

Raven's eyes widened as well as the rest of the bridge crew as Cole was watching over Praetorian's status on one of the monitors and Captain Blake giving orders to the crew. _'23 billion!'_ Raven thought to himself _'By God, that's 3 billion more then the losses from the last two Scrin Wars combined! They must have been both outnumbered and completely outgunned!'_ Granted, while the UNSC did suffer more losses then GDI did in its wars with the Scrin, the wars were the Scrin weren't as long as the Human-Covenant War so they had their losses pile up even faster then the UNSC did. A part of Raven wondered if GDI went through the wormhole and emerged during this conflict, could they have saved more lives?

He shook his head, _'There's no time for what ifs, if the Spartan says these people are dangerous then I'll show them just how deadly the Initiative can be. Although I am curious about these separatists that the UNSC allied with, I'll have to ask him later.'_ "117, are you saying we should fire on them right now? I think we only have a slight window before they regain their composure and start forming up."

 _"I'm having Cortana work with the AI that's with Captain Havoc, Logan on breaking the Covenant's Battlenet. It will tell us whether or not they're the separatists or a faction wanting to continue the Covenant's original goal."_ As the Spartan was talking, both Logan and Cortana were hacking into the Covenant's systems in order to see who this group of Covenant forces were. Logan was surprised at how easy it was to break in their systems, he had a harder time dealing with rebel forces communications or when he tried to hack into older systems in order test himself and for when he and his brothers did dares. Cortana smirked at him and told him that the UNSC's main advantage during the war was cyber warfare as the Covenant while advanced in terms of technology they never went into improving their tech as they thought it was blasphemous and never improved their firewalls to prevent AI like her from hacking into their systems. After a few minutes, they were able to break into the battlenet and were hearing communications between Covenant ships clear as day.

 _"Sir!"_ Logan then spoke up as soon as John was done talking. _"We've hacked the Covenant's transmissions! Putting them up now on the comms."_

Logan transmitted the communications in between Covenant forces to the _Olympus,_ allowing them to hear what the new arrivals were talking about.

 _"Supreme leader, the alien ships we have encountered haven't made any moves so far as to make them hostile. However, they appear to be in defensive formation."_

The deep voices of the Sangheili seemed to be concerned if the tones of their voices were any indication. Raven could tell that they didn't except any ships near the metal planet and told him that this planet must have been a rendezvous point for the fleet in front of them. If is able to get the information he needed to engage them, Raven could first first to take out a large number of ships before they could fire back. This would also be a chance for him to test a new device that would allow GDI to survive any first volley they could at fire at them once they recover from the shock of the attack.

Raven turned to Ensign Williams, "Tell the fleet to deploy the FSPs once I give the order to ready weapons and activate them after we make the first shots."

"Yes sir." Williams replied as she sends his orders across the fleet.

 _"Have you been able to make contact with them yet Shipmaster?"_ _'That must be their supreme commander.'_ Raven thought to himself. He looked to the three massive ships in the center of the massive fleet where the signals were coming from. No doubt one of those ships was the flagship of the fleet so he looked to Daniel to list them as primary targets for the fleet.

He looked to Williams, "Don't answer their hails yet."

 _"Supreme Leader! We've detected a ship from the humans floating nearby the planet!"_ One of the aliens said aloud to the the one in charge. They must have found the remains of the _Dawn_ nearby. Raven knew that if they said that they wanted to continue their holy war against the UNSC, that would be his chance to attack them first.

 _"One of the human ships?"_

 _"Yes great leader, however it seems to be a wreck of one. Perhaps a remnant from the war against the humans."_

 _"Hmph, it is not important. Soon enough humanity will become nothing but ashes once have the chance to finish the Great Journey and end that traitorous A_ _rbiter's life. The Storm shell finish the work of the Prophets and the of Gods."_

A smirk soon appeared on Raven's face. _'And there's the proof we need.'_ He soon turns to the bridge crew, "Ensign Williams, send to the order to power all weapons and release FSPs. Lieutenant Thompson, ready main weapons and all missile pods to fire at my command and set all EVA controlled weapons to fire when ready. Get all our fighters armed and ready to deploy. It's time to show these Storm Covenant how the Initiative fights!"

"YES SIR!" All crew members set about their orders as all the ships came live with crewman doing to their orders. Pilots rushed to their aircraft as the their maintenance crews began checking the planes while arming the aircraft for battle. EVA units controlling the weapons either powered up their weapons or loaded ammunition into the projectile cannons or Gatling CIWSs as they prepared for any incoming munitions or fighters once the Covenant Storm began to counterattack. Marines and Army units onboard the ships or transports began to put on their power armors and readying weapons for when the enemy tries to board the ships or if they are given the order to board transports to attack any damaged ships to capture them. Commandos, both regular and augmented, along with any Special Forces units in the fleet prepared themselves as well for any missions they are ordered on to deal with the enemy.

Raven speaks up yet again, "Ms. Williams, respond to their hails and put them on screen. I want to see the faces of our enemy before we destroy them so we know whom we're fighting against."

"Aye sir." Sheryl responded."

Cole then walked up Raven, "I'm sending a Narwhal along with several Orca and Typhoon gunships to get Praetorian and Sierra 117 out of the wreck."

Raven turned to the Commander with a smirk on his face. "Good work Commander, I'll leave the matter of Fireteam Praetorian in your capable hands. I'll be deal with these aliens the way GDI deals with any enemy."

Cole soon let out his own smile as he stood at full attention, "Overwhelming firepower and giving no respite?"

Raven soon chuckled, "That is correct. Now then I believe the fireworks are about to begin. Care to watch along with me?"

"It's fine sir, I'll be back to my post."Cole said honestly.

"Very well then Commander." Raven said as he turned to the main screen that would show the face of their enemy.

 _'Time to make our mark on this galaxy.'_

* * *

 **Covenant Storm Fleet**

 **2558**

 **Storm Flagship _Song of Retribution_**

Jul 'Mdama, the leader of the Storm Covenant had become irritated with the current state of affairs with the unknown fleet. For the last couple of years, he had been absorbing more and more groups of Covenant remnants under his leadership after defeating other splinter groups, winning single combat against other Sangheili leaders and and getting their followers to accept him as their leader, and making alliances with those that also focused on continuing the war with the humans. It had been hard going but he had been able to scrap together a massive fleet of over five thousand ships. While all but three hundred of them were escort or support ships, he still had several CAS Assault Carriers, Supercruisers, Battleships, and other large ships making up the strength of the fleet. However, at the center of the fleet were three CSO Supercarriers, which were the most powerful ships that the Covenant used in battle against the humans.

Truly, this was the majority of his faction's power. A massive fist that would fall upon the humans and begin the Great Journey anew.

They were to all gather at the metal planet in order to group the forces together in order to launch a massive assault against any nearby human systems. They would also look into the planet in order to use any of the objects from the planet that the gods would bestow upon them for their quest. Their quest to harness the information and knowledge of the Forerunner AI known as the Librarian

However, he certainly didn't expect to see dozens of ships unknown to him appearing next to the planet.

They didn't resemble any of the ships the humans used in battle, but they had a blocky design that looked similar to what the humans had. However, he could also see that the same ships he saw in front of him were heavily armed to the teeth. Some of the weapons he could see resembled what the humans used against the Covenant during the war, but others he didn't recognize. They hadn't made any moves yet but they were in combat formation which confused him. Did they know his forces would show up and they wanted to prepare themselves before they could arrive. They didn't have any fighters out and patrolling the space around the ships, meaning that they must have been taken aback much like they had due to their appearance.

"Supreme Leader! Our hails have been answered! We're getting getting communications signals from the massive ship in the center of the fleet." One of the Sangheili crew members responded.

"At last, why in the name of the gods did they not respond sooner?" Jul said aloud.

"Supreme leader, the ships have launched some type of spherical object that's drifting in front of them." Another Sangheili spoke up.

"What? Is it some kind of weapon?" This was becoming more and more confusing to the Elite leader. The ships in front of him weren't seemingly powering up their weapons, but they were acting off. They didn't respond to his earlier hails, they didn't break their combat formation, and they were deploying some type of device. He was starting to get more paranoid with how things were progressing, and he needed to be any for whatever could come next.

He let out a loud sigh, "No matter, just put them on screen."

The Sangheili merely nodded as they brought up an image on the main screen. Then, all of the Covenant forces on the bridge were taken aback by the image they saw on the screen. In front of them were humans, much like the ones they had been fighting against for over 30 years. They didn't have any of the clothing that the humans they've fought before but they had the same faces that the heretics. However, what caught Madma's attention was the man in the center of the screen looking right at him with his eyes showing a strong resolve that took him aback a little bit.

What caught his eye the most about the man was that he had a smirk on his face.

 _"Hello there."_ The human staring at him said with some humor to his voice.

"HUMAN! HOW DARE YOU INFEST ONE OF THE HOLY SITES OF THE GODS!" Madma roared in anger at the man, "DO NOT THINK THAT BECAUSE YOUR KIND HAVE SLAIN THE PROPHETS ALONG WITH HELPING THOSE ACCURSED TRAITORS THAT NOW YOU CAN DESECRATE HOLLOWED GROUND AT WILL!"

 _"Oh? Apologies for that xeno."_ The human spoke with that insufferable smirk on his face. _"However, you won't be around much longer to prevent us from doing our duties."_

"ENOUGH! DO NOT YOU CAN FRIGHTEN US WITH YOUR THREATS! OUR FORCES OUTNUMBER YOURS BY THOUSANDS! NO MATTER HOW ADVANCED YOUR SHIPS ARE YOU WILL LOSE DUE TO OVERWHELMING NUMBERS! FLEE WHILE YOU STILL CAN BEFORE YOUR INEVITABLE DESTRUCTION!" Madma knew that no human, even with the recent advances in technology, wouldn't be foolish enough to stand and fight against this many ships. If they did chose to do so, he would grant them a warrior's death and eliminate all of them. It would be the least he could do to the foolish humans.

 _"Sorry, not possible. However, I would like to say something to you alien."_

"What is it human?" Madma said with barely restrained anger in his voice. The human's smirk didn't go away even with all of the threats he had given them. Was this human insane or looking to kill himself in combat? Regardless, he would give this human his foolish request before he would finally end his life.

Raven's smirk became wider as he stared into Madma's eyes. _"Once your in hell, say hello to the devil for me."_ After that, the transmission soon cut off leaving the bridge in a state of confusion. It was no doubt that the human must have ordered it himself as none of the being on Madma's ship cut off the transmission and Madma himself didn't give the order.

"Supreme Leader! We are detecting energy build-ups on the new human's ships! They must be readying to fire on us!"

Jul cursed the humans, they wanted to see him lose his temperament and hear him being hostile to them. They seemed to expect that he would attack them from the start and just wanted to confirm their thoughts about them. Now more then anything, Madma realized that he needs to react now before the could fire at him.

"Order all ships to open fire on the humans before they can fire first!" All of the bridge crew soon began to rush the firing order to the other ships. All of their plasma weapons began charging up as their point defense weapons began to charge up. Madma was getting more and more impatient as the human's actions unnerved him. He didn't seemed afraid of their massive numbers, giving off the aura of an individual who has gone through combat many times in the past. There was no sense of fear in the human's eyes, which completely unnerved him.

All of the ships in his fleet charged their plasma excavation beams and readied their plasma torpedoes to fire. He wanted the Seraphs and Banshees to saved until they had fired the first volley. He could see that they still hadn't deployed their own fighters yet, perhaps they were holding them back for some grand counterattack. Not that it would make any difference, they would be decimated long before they were launched.

"The excavation beams are fully charged and all Plasma torpedoes are ready to fire." One Storm soldier reported.

"OPEN FIRE!" Madma yelled.

All three thousand ships fired their weapons at the vastly outnumbered GDI fleet. Their blue colored plasma weapons tearing through space as they headed towards the GDI ships, prepared to utterly erase them.

The incoming beams and torpedoes soon crossed the distance as they all exploded when they (supposedly) impacted the GDI fleet. Several large explosions formed in front of the Covenant Storm as smoke filled their vision and display screens. They had managed to wipe out most if not all of the new human fleet without any loss to themselves. A chorus of triumphant shorts sounded through the fleet, all soldiers jubilant at the defeat of the foolish human forces. While not the same humans they had been fighting for so long, they were still humans and they seemingly died just like the rest.

The Sangheili equivalent of a smirk came on Madma's face. Truly, it seemed their fortunes were changing.

* * *

 **GDS _Olympus_**

"SIR! Multiple plasma based weaponry incoming!"

Raven was surprised by the sheer volume of incoming beams and torpedoes coming at his fleet. A part of him was worried that the FSPs wouldn't hold and that his fleet would suffer immense losses before they could fire back. A sense of doubt that their superior tech wouldn't be enough to stop the incoming fire. He quickly suppressed that thought as GDI shield technology was powerful enough to take multiple Tiberium beam blasts before overloading and shutting down and their armor was able to take considerable punishment before falling apart. After the FSPs stopped the incoming fire, he would have to order crew to put on oxygen masks and space suits just in case anything went wrong.

"Activate the FSPs, time to see if they can handle that amount of fire. Just in case, focus all shield power to the front." He calmly ordered.

"Roger that Admiral," One of the bridge crew responded, "activating the FSPs."

In front of the GDI fleet, the dozens of FSPs, or Firestorm Shield Pods activated. Designed in the middle of the Sixth Scrin War, the FSPs were designed to counter the massive amount of Scrin Tiberium beam cannons firing at them during massive battles. They were tested on by firing several Orbital Ion Cannons at ten of the pods which had been activated before the cannons could fire. While some of the pods short circuited, the ones that still worked were able to absorb much of the Ion Cannon's fire before being overloaded. This was signifigant, considering that the Orbital Ion Cannons could output over 1.5 gigatons of energy (more recent models increase the output to almost 2 gigatons). This was calculated to be the equivalent of several Scrin capital ships firing their Tiberium beam cannons.

When first used in battle against the Scrin, it was an edge that allowed the GDI facing them (which was outnumbered nearly 3 to 1) to easily obliterate the force with all their available weapons. Following its success, they began to upgrade the FSPs in order to further increase the amount of energy they could take from incoming fire. Battlegroup Jutland had been equipped with the mark 2 version which could take nearly twice what the original version could take.

The FSPs flared to life, the light blue energy coming out of them forming into a dense shield network which would hopefully block most or all of the incoming enemy fire to allow GDI a surprise strike on the Covenant Storm forces. The Plasma beams and torpedoes impacted the shield network with explosions obscuring the GDI ships from the Covenant's sight. All he had to do now to hope that the network would hold and that their first shots would fully catch them off guard.

"Ion cannons at 90%, Firestorm cannons at 95%, and missile pods fully armed." One of the bridge crew said aloud. "All fighters and bombers are fully armed and standing by Admiral."

"Excellent work, order all jets to take off once the enemy fire dies down." Raven continued watching the countless explosions in front of him. Both Cole and Captain Blake walked up him and joined him in looking to see if one of GDI's newest pieces of equipment would stand up to a new enemy and their weapons. The explosions kept coming as more and more of the enemy's incoming fire. The seconds went by as the explosions kept coming, filling the front of the crew's vision from seeing the Covenant ships. All of the bridge crew was getting a little twitchy, showing that they were getting restless from not doing anything to fire back. However, their discipline was holding firm as none of them were going to fire the weapons without Raven giving his permission.

Eventually, the explosions died down, signaling the end of the enemy's attacks. A collective sigh went through out the bridge crew, one that they didn't think they were holding. It took several minutes when the Covenant Storm started firing until it finally ended. Cole finally spoke up with for everyone with what were their thoughts on it.

"Finally, looks like its our chance now Admiral."

Raven turned to Cole and nodded, "Indeed, time to strike back." Raven then starts to sound off orders as he looks at the holo-display with it showing the GDI ships in blue and the massive armada of Covenant Storm in red. "Launch all fighters and bombers, I want half of the fighters on interception duty and half on protecting the strike aircraft. Making targeting any ships that have lost their shields a priority, we need to thin the herd as quickly as possible. Fire all main forward weapons at the enemy capital ships and the forward Ion cannon turrets at the smaller ships to clear the way for the strike craft. Launch burst missiles at any large cluster of enemy fighters and anti-ship missiles at the enemy ships. Have EMP missiles fired first to weaken and deplete enemy shields along with the first salvo. Have Portal drives coordinates set for the destroyers and frigates to launch wolfpack attacks from behind when I give the order. And send 6 Orca gunships to escort the Narwhal transport and get Fireteam Praetorian off of that wreck."

"Yes sir!" All the bridge crew soon went to do their duties.

Raven soon turned to Cole, the commander no doubt concerned about his old team. "I'm giving you command of the gunships Commander Masters, use them well and get our Centurions out of there."

"Roger that Admiral." Cole said while saluting Raven. He soon went over to his post as Raven turned to Blake, "Captain, I'll leave you in charge of the _Olympus_ while I deal with commanding the fleet."

"Of course Admiral, let's send these Covenant bastards to hell the way GDI knows best." Captain Blake nodded as he soon sits down in the captain's chair as Raven walks up to the the Holotable, seeing the various aircraft taking off from their ships. However, there was one squadron he knew would play the biggest role in this battle. HE had seen their abilities in battle during the Sixth Scrin War and in fights against Neo Nod, overcoming impossible odds and always emerging fro a fight with friend;y forces suffering less losses then predicted by analysts. He knew the Covenant wouldn't be able to touch them with anything in their arsenal, and that the Covenant would fear them in future battles after this day.

"Daniel, send word to Razgriz Squadron." Raven said as the image of Daniel appeared next to him. "Tell them all weapons are free and they can tear the enemy apart with extreme prejudice. And tell them Happy hunting."

A smirk appeared on Daniel's face as he was well aware of the type of force the aces could unleash when they fight. "Roger that sir. Also, all weapons are fully charged and ready to fire at your command."

Raven looked up the smoke in front of him, the ship's targeting systems highlighting the ships it has chosen to attack. All along the fleet, GDI sailors were standing by to finally fire upon the massive enemy fleet, ready to show them the power of the Initiative in full.

Raven breathed in and out, knowing full well what would happen next. _'It's time, once more GDI stands ready to fight. It's time for us to show these fanatic aliens that all versions of humanity will not back down.'_ He thought to himself. He threw his arm forward and yelled at the top of his lungs for all of his ships to hear.

"OPEN FIRE!"

Across the fleet, dozens of blue beams from the main Ion Cannons and the forward Ion Cannon turrets opened up. The Ionized railguns also fired forward, their blue glowing slugs flying through space much like comets burning up near a planet. The forward Firestorm cannons opened up and sent out a dark blue pulse of antimatter as they blasted forward towards the enemy fleet. At the same time, hundreds of missiles began to fly through space at hypersonic speed, their booster flames lighting through the blackness of space.

However, these aren't normal anti-ship missiles that are heading towards the Covenant armada. They're among the newest weapons in GDI's arsenal in order to quickly bring down Scrin ships and their massive war mechs in one deceive strike. Resembling a more advanced version of the 20th century SM-2 Standard missile ( **aka the SM-3 missile** ), the Counter-electronics High Power Microwave Advanced Missile Project or CHAMP-100 Crossbow missile was an EMP missile that could easily shut down important subsystems on enemy ships along with quickly draining energy shielding. It was developed due to the advances made by the Scrin in terms of shield technology. Seeing the usefulness of them in combat, Admiral Raven had ordered thousands of the missiles to be sent with the Battlegroup along with the blueprints to build more of them when needed.

The Covenant had never encountered such weapons on mass during the war with the UNSC. Now they would see the difference between the UNSC and GDI.

The Crossbow missiles hit at the same time as the Ion Cannons, impacting enemy shields and quickly draining them before the Covenant could process what was happening. Due to the missiles, the shields came down before the Ion cannons shots could be finally drained allowing them to impact several enemy capital ships with enough power to badly damage them. Several CCS battlecrusiers, four CAS assault carriers, two ORS Heavy Crusiers and six RCS light cruisers were destroyed in an instant by shots from three of the Granger-class Battlecrusiers and two of the Lafayette-Class Light Dreadnoughts, one of whom fired two of its three main Ion cannons into an assault carrier, obliterating it after hitting its main core.

 _Zeus_ , an Odin-class battleship fired four dozen of it's Crossbow missiles at one of the supercarriers, weakening its shields before one of its Super Ion cannons blasted into the enemy ship. Its shields were overwhelmed as the ship's front bulb was blown away as the beam speared through the ship, causing several large explosions which tore apart thousands of Storm personnel. _Zeus's_ Ionized railgun slugs soon followed, one smashing through the remains of the front and destroying its mid-section as the other impacted its lower body. The supercarrier, among the strongest ships used by the Covenant soon exploded after a combination of its remaining munitions and its energy core exploded. The remainder of _Zeus's_ EMP missiles impacted two Covenant Battleships along with two Armored Crusiers, weakening their shields heavily before the last two Super Ion Cannons blasted through the remaining shields and blasted into the battleships, destroying the 2 km long ships in an instant while it's Super Firestorm cannons mortally wounded the armored cruisers.

Three Praetorian Class Cruisers _Caesar, Augustus,_ and _Trajan_ opened fire on six CCS battlecrusiers with their Ion cannons blasting apart the ships once their shields were down and blasted apart two of them with two Ion blasts each, then they focused fire with their third Ion cannons at a third ship. The fourth battlecruiser loses its shields due to the three cruisers focusing most for their EMP missiles at it which not only bring down the enemy shields, but also disables most of the ships main and secondary weapons. They finish off the crippled ship with their forward Firestorm cannons, the anti-matter pulses decimating the ship's hull until it finally explodes.

 _Freya_ , Another of the Odin-Class battleships opens fire on three CAS Assault Carriers, six CCS battlecrusiers and four ORS Heavy Cruisers,. Two of the Super Ion Cannons takes out two of the Heavy Cruisers in single shots, easily blasting through the weakened shields. The forward Ion cannon turrets fired at the battlecruisers, turning them into space debris with them blasting through the ships and detonating their energy cores, causing them to blow up and causing debris to fly into other ships that had lost their shields in the EMP missile strike, dealing more damage to them. The assault carriers were taken out via the last two Super Ion Cannons and the two Super Firestorm Cannons, and the last Heavy Cruisers were smashed by the

 _Wellington_ , the last of the _Granger-Class_ Battlecrusiers left blasted through 6 CCS battlecrusiers with her main weapons after weakening their shields and focused fired their forward Ion Cannon turrets and one of its main Firestorm cannons at one CAS Assault Carrier. The Ion cannons blasted apart the front of hull of the ship enough to allow the Heavy Firestorm cannon to finish the 5 km ship off.

The four remaining Lafayettes blasted through seven ORS Heavy Crusiers, four CCS Battlecruisers, two Battleships, and two DDS Carriers.

 _Mars_ , the last of the Odin-Class battleships focuses one of its three Super Ion Cannons at the second Supercarrier after 40% of its EMP missiles shuts down its shields allowing the mighty warship to gut its opposing enemy like a fish as it explodes in spectacular fashion. It then focuses its remaining Super Ion Cannons on two Supercruisers easily punching through their shields. The rest of the EMP missiles impacted several more ORS Heavy Crusiers and CCS battlecrusiers, not only bringing down the shields, but also disabling several weapon systems aboard them for the aircraft assault. Both the ionized railguns and super firestorm cannons obliterated four of the crippled ships easily, with six others being blasted by the forward ion turrets. Four others were badly damaged by the hull mounted weapons that could fire at the given time along with four CCS battlecrusiers.

The _Olympus_ focused on the last of the Supercarriers, 30% of its EMP missiles took down its shields and allowed for one of its Super Ion Cannons to punch through the mighty Covenant warship, utterly destroying it in a single blast. It then turned its remaining three Super Ion Cannons against three Supercrusiers, easily breaking through the shields and destroying the ships without any issue. The remaining main weapons and the three forward Ion Cannon turrets blasted through four more DDS carriers, three CCS battlecrusiers and two RPV light destroyers.

The remaining GDI ships fired their own weapons, with the transport ships adding their own into the barrage. The destroyers and frigates focused on the DDS carriers with 60% of their EMP missiles with the remainder hitting the nearby destroyers and light cruisers to allow for the next missile strike to destroy them completely to allow for the aircraft to tear apart the Carriers.

At the end of the first attack, 60 enemy ships were destroyed, 32 were badly damaged and barely hanging on, and 46 were damaged.

Overall, it both raised GDI's morale and shook the Covenant to their core.

Raven was glad to see his fleet were able to give the enemy a bloody nose. Now he wanted to launch another attack this time with anti-ship missiles and more of their EMP missiles along with the aircraft assault. Raven knew that if the enemy needed to survive another attack like that, they would need to concentrate their shield power to the front of the ships. However, with the missiles coming in from around the ships as it would cause them to focus their shields to block the missiles. This could allow the next volley to punch through the shields again once that happened and the aircraft could gain free reign around the enemy fleet.

 _'Perhaps I should also add in dozen of the burst missiles to deal with any grouping of enemy fighters.'_ Raven thought to himself. He knew that with their limited numbers, the enemy would be able to punch through their shields and damage their armor. He then came up with another idea. He could use the smaller ships to Portal jump behind the enemy fleet and fire off their nuclear missiles following the blitz strike in order to further throw the Covenant into confusion. Then he could follow that up with a massed nuclear missile attack from his main combat ships and further decimate their forces.

"Mr. Collins." He said speaking to Ensign Trevor Collins, who worked on communications for the _Olympus._ "Inform the aircraft strike groups to hit the enemy ships quickly and to focus some of their weaponry on the enemy main weapon emplacements. I want to see if we can't weaken the amount of firepower their next volley will send. Also get word to the frigate, destroyer, and some of the cruiser captains to launch a surprise attack on their rear via Portal jump behind the enemy fleet. Also inform the transports to stay behind the battleships along with the Carriers once they've launched anti-ship missiles."

"Aye sir." The young Caucasian from the Sirius system responded.

"Also, inform the captains in the strike group that they are allowed to use their Mars nuclear missiles once they've began the attack. I want the enemy to take as much damage as possible before the enemy can counter the maneuver." Raven knew that the nuclear weapons would cause immense damage to the enemy fleet as well as the EMP pulse they send being powerful enough to knock out nearby vessels. The close formation of the the Covenant fleet would allow for both the blast-wave and the EMP to cause large amounts of havoc on the enemy.

"Copy that Admiral." Trevor spoke out before going to relay the commands.

Daniel then appeared next to Raven. "Admiral, a few of the FSPs are still in operation. I would suggests using them to block some of the next enemy attack while we focus power to the forward shielding and to speed up charging the weapons."

"Understood Daniel." Raven said aloud. "I'm ordering a massive missile strike. I want the missiles to come in from around the enemy ships, force them to use much of their power to block the anti-ship missiles. That and the EMP missiles will quickly drop their shield to allow our next volley to be just as effective if not more so." Before the Covenant attacked GDI, Daniel was able to tell that a good amount of the smaller support and escort ships didn't have shields on them from his scans. Raven knew that because of that, his missile strike could be used to take them out in large numbers. That would allow for the strike craft to get through to the damaged enemy ships.

"Roger that Admiral, sending the order now." Daniel said as he sent the orders to the other AIs in the fleet.

Raven then looked up from the battle display as GDI aircraft came into view of the fleet as they flew out to attack the enemy fleet.

 _'Godspeed to all of you, and good hunting Razgriz Squadron.'_ Raven thought to himself.

* * *

 **UNSC _Forward Onto Dawn_**

"If only Johnson was here to see this huh Chief?"

Chief looked on in complete silence at the events that played before him. When the absolutely massive Covenant armada had appeared in front of the GDI fleet (the largest he had seen in his life, even eclipsing the fleet that protected High Charity by thousands of ships), a part of him felt that both him and GDI would be decimated due to the massive number of weapons on the ships. He had always faced down massive odds during the war, knowing that his missions would allow the UNSC to fight for another day. The technological disadvantage had made the UNSC lose countless ships and people in every battle they faced, always suffering massive losses even them having the numerical advantage.

However when the sheer number of ships appeared, even he felt that he wouldn't be able to survive this battle even with GDI's help.

However, while Cortana and Logan were hacking into the Covenant Battlenet, he could tell from the Centurions that perhaps Admiral Raven had a plan in mind to help GDI overcome the numbers and firepower disadvantages. He had heard the exchange between who he assumed was the leader of the Covenant forces (which were in fact a splinter faction) and the admiral. He raised a mental eyebrow at how calm Raven was during the exchange, further lending credence to his original idea. Then Cortana informed him about dozens of spherical objects floating out past the ships and got in front of them before the Covenant opened fire on them. The pods then opened up, creating blue energy shielding that made a type of layered shield barrier which had absorbed all of the incoming fire from the Storm's ships. John was surprised that the shields was strong enough to block the fire from so many ships and could see that some of the pods were still in action with them only absorbing some of the last shots.

Then came GDI's counterattack, which really stunned Cortana and impressed Chief.

Seeing several of the Covenant's strongest ships, the same ones that devastated countless UNSC ships and glassing hundreds of worlds getting obliterated easily was both satisfying and also quite the statement on the technology that GDI possessed. Even the Supercarriers, the strongest ships the Covenant used during the war fell quickly to the smaller GDI battleships and their flagship within seconds. Other ships including the Assault Carriers, Battlecrusiers, and other capital ships fell to the onslaught brought on by GDI's first missile barrage weakening their shields before the main weapons on their front and the Ion Cannon turrets they had facing forward blasted through the weakened shields easily before obliterating the enemy ships without much difficultly.

It was truly a scene that man like Admiral Cole, Admiral Stanworth, Lord Hood, Captain Keyes, and yes even Sargent Johnson would have loved to see.

"Agreed." John said at last.

"If you're curious about the missiles our ships launched first," Logan spoke through the speakers of Havoc's armor, "they're specialized Electromagnetic Pulse missiles known as the Counter-electronics High Power Microwave Advanced Missile Project or CHAMP-100 Crossbow. We made it to deal with the enemies we've fought in the past in order to take down enemy shields and subsystems in order to cripple them and allow for our aircraft to strike them with less enemy AA fire and help our ships finish off enemy forces quickly in battle."

John raised an eyebrow at the name of the missile, knowing that it was the exact same name as the program that the US military developed in the early 21st Century. However, Cortana was able to take enhanced images of the missiles that were fired from GDI's ships and uploaded them to the Chief's HUD. They didn't look like the Cruise Missiles that the original program had made for use in battle.

"They look like the SM-3 Standard missiles that US ships used for anti-air purposes." Cortana said out loud. "Why use those instead of just improving the original Cruise Missile?"

"Well, while the cruise missile was still effective in battle we needed it to be fast enough in order to prevent it being intercept easily. We took the SM-3 IIA blueprints and upgraded it to make it go at hypersonic speeds and improve its overall mobility due to the need of improving the overall speeds of our missiles due to advances in CIWS and anti-missiles defenses. The Standard missile was chosen due to GDI beginning a plan that would bring back some old weapons with new technology in order to make up for losses made during a previous war. In the end the weapons proved to be a success in battle and GDI kept upgrading them. After all, any weapon can still be effective if you use it right."

"I guess that makes sense, if you upgrade it enough to make it still effective." Cortana spoke. _'Note to self,'_ she thought to herself, _'try to get blueprints for it and get it for the UNSC to use.'_

 _"Phoenix to Havoc,"_ Cole spoke up from the Comms, _"We're sending a gunship escort with the transport. However, possible enemy forces maybe heading to the Dawn acknowledge."_

"Copy that Phoenix, we'll engage if the enemy arrives before we can board the transport."

 _"Understood Havoc."_ Cole responded, _"Wait... damn! enemy escort ship just appeared close to the Dawn! You may be fighting quicker then planned."_

"Chief, Covenant corvette just appeared next to the ship along with several enemy dropships coming in." Cortana spoke out after Cole was finished.

"How many?" Chief said.

"At least a few dozen, seems as though they want to kill off anyone on board as well as take anything of value before they bug out."

John was figured that maybe the case if they could get their hands on anything of value from the ship. However, he wondered why they would send so many for a single wreck and in the middle of a massive battle. Regardless of that little point, John was concerned not with the large numbers of Covenant troops he would fight, but more about how the Centurions would handle the situation. He knew they were augmented soldiers so they would be able to pull their weight and from what he could see from the ships, their weapons seemed more advanced then what the UNSC had during the war so the same could apply for their infantry weapons.

He just wondered how they'll be able to deal with the more effective soldiers in the Covenant.

"Well then," Ursa said aloud, "It's time we show this Covenant Storm how strong we Centurions are."

"Ursa's right," Jackel said while equipping his GD-15 with a M420 grenade launcher for a little more bang for its buck. "these guys wanted to pick a fight to kill all of humanity, so I think we give them one they'll never forget."

The others nodded at Havoc who understood the situation at hand. He knew that the Covenant would show up before the transport would arrive, so they would need to fight until they got there. He know with them working together with Chief they'll be able be defeat whomever they fought against them. In fact, Chief could give them ideas on how best to deal with whoever attacks them as he no doubt has years of experience in dealing with the aliens.

He turns to Chief, "Alright Chief, we'll be heading out now. We'll need your help with dealing with whatever foot soldiers the Covenant send after us."

"Understood Captain, let's move." John says as the group starts moving. John was a little disappointed that he wasn't able to get any of the supplies he had found off of the _Dawn,_ but he needed to prioritize dealing with the Covenant Storm.

"Hey Chief," Jackal said as he walks up to the Spartan. He holds out to him a couple of blue colored objects with what looked like two black lug nuts on the body. "You might want to take these just in case."

"What are they?" Chief inquired.

"EMP grenades. Considering that the Covenant use energy shielding on their ships, I'm guessing they have personal shields on some of their soldiers." Miguel said simply.

"You'd be right about that." Chief said while taking the grenades. Cynthia then also walked up to John and handed another two of EMP grenades. There was no enemies that showed up on the ship yet, so they were able to move faster down the halls of the ship up to the outside ship.

"Chief, we maybe able to attack the enemy ship with the _Dawn's_ nuclear missile. We'll need to use the manual controls on the outer hull in order to release it." Cortana spoke up. Thankfully Chief remembered that the place where the transport would show up was the same place that the missile was at. So before they could leave the ship, John could be able to take out the Covenant ship as they leave and get aboard the _Olympus_.

They soon got to the last couple of hallways before the outside of the ship. However, they soon heard what must have been footsteps with armored boots clanging on the metal floor. Soon the door in front of them was blown open as several beings walked out from the smoke. First were small beings that were only a couple of feet tall with round heads, small arms and legs with a bulbous object on its back. Some had what seemed to be some type of energy weapon that was around the size of a pistol in its left hand. Others had what looked to be blue glowing grenades in their hands, making the GDI supersoldiers think back to the suicide bombers that both the original and Neo Brotherhood used against GDI throughout its history. Another weapon they used was a bulbous design with sharp, glowing pink needles sticking out of the weapon, seemingly the ammunition for it. They seemed to be rather skittish from the dialogue that the Centurions could hear, meaning they could be like cannon fodder, much like poorly trained Nod Militia soldiers which were usually the easiest for them to deal with due to both their lack of armor and miss-match of weapons.

Next came a being that was taller then the alien midgets that resembled an lizard like being. They were orange skinned with sharp teeth in their mouth, making them out to be predatory. Their arms and legs were extremely thin making them seem like just skin over their bones. They had purple armor covering their torsos along with what seemed to be a an object that was held like a shield in its hand. Some of them had what looked like a long barreled sniper rifle or DMR-like weapon, making them out to be the long range fighters of the alien forces.

Next came two large beings with heavy armor on their beings. They seemed as if they were made up of some type of organic tubes, with the heads having four eyes due to the mask on their faces. The Centurions could see several spikes on their backs, giving them a bug like appearance to the large beings On one hand, they had what looked to be a large shield which would be able to block any incoming enemy fire or be used as an offensive weapon when needed. In the other hand, they had a large cannon that looked like a powerful grenade launcher or miniature hand cannon that could damage light vehicles. They must have be the both the tanks and main muscle behind an assault force.

Next came aliens that were bipedal like the previous ones but were more lanky yet strong looking. Some were more slimmer and more agile looking, while others were more bulky looking as if they've taken high amounts of steroids or their equivalent to the performance enhancing drug. They both had arms that ended in a three fingered crew-like hand that held the various weapons they used, from rifle like weapons to that seemed to be handles on their sides. The most prevalent feature on them was that of their faces, they had two eyes which were further apart then on a humans and they had what seemed to be four appendages that ended in fangs covering their mouths. If someone was to look at them, they would be calling them "split-lips".

Overall they seemed to have more diversity then the Scrin and had plasma weapons more alien then anything Neo Nod could come up with.

The team had positioned themselves behind cover before the Storm forces were able to enter. Chief, looking to Havoc gave him hand signals which translated meant, "On the count of three, toss both frag and EMP grenades before opening fire." Havoc nodded in response while Cortana prepared to send the Centurions information. The Centurions ready two frag grenades and four EMP grenades while Chief brings out one of his own fragmentation grenades and prepares to arm it. The aliens continue to look around, moving their heads to keep a lookout for any enemy units.

Chief signaled by counting down from five as his fingers closed down.

 _5..4..3.._

On three, they armed their grenades as they pull the pins on their frag grenades and press a button to arm the EMP grenades. The Storm soldiers begin to hear the noises and begin to get nervous, especially the Grunts.

When Chief brings down his last finger, all seven of them toss their grenades into the group of Storm soldiers. The EMP grenades go off first, taking down all five of the Elite's energy shields much to their shock before the frag grenades exploded. The Grunts, some of the Jackals, and two of the Elites were killed instantly while two other Elites were wounded and along with three Jackals. The Hunters, due to their heavy armor and shields were able to able block the shrapnel but the concussive blast did damage a few of their worms.

Instantly following the grenades going off, Chief and the Centurions opened fire with their primary weapons with Chief firing the grenade in his rifle's attached grenade launcher killing more of the Storm forces. The groups then begin to move around the area, easily dodging enemy fire as they quickly decimate the enemy force. Dimitri opens fire with his Gatling gun, shredding the Grunts still in the open (with him first taking out those that were idiotically charging at the supersoldiers in a suicide attack which caused his Plasma grenades to go off near his comrades) along with the Jackals whose shields can't activate due to the EMP grenades shutting them down. Hypersonic slugs from Havoc's and Castor's GD-14s, plasma bolts from Jackal's GD-15, as well as rounds from the sidearms of Kaze and Jeager easily pierced through the enemies armor, with their headshots killing the remaining Elites and Jackals still standing (although one of the more muscular Eiltes did take a few more rounds to down completely).

The two Hunters still remained tall as they opened fire with their Fuel Rod Cannons at the supersoldiers. Chief instinctively ducked as he waited for the rounds to explode or pass over their heads. However, he didn't hear any explosions that should have gone off.

"Uh Chief? I think you may want to look at Castor." Cortana said while having an amazed tone in her voice.

Chief looked to the GDI supersoldier and was taken aback by what he saw. Castor had her arm in the air and right in front of her were the shots taken by the Hunters, suspended in midair. In all of his career, this was one thing that John never would have expected from anyone. Castor then began causing the rounds to spin around her as she brought her up vertically.

"I think these are yours." She said with a smirk under her helmet." She then thrust her hand forward and used her telekinesis to push the rounds back at the Hunters, exploding upon impact with their shields and armor. The Hunters armor had cracks and large burns on their armor as Havoc and Jackal charged at the large aliens drawing their fusion blades. They use their enhanced agility to dodge the incoming shots as they jump off of any crates and enemy bodies as well as using the walls to push off of as they get closer.

Inwardly, John is impressed by their skills. They seem to him to be able to give Spartan IIs like him a tough fight and more skilled then Spartan IIIs in their coordination and reflexes (with an exception being Noble Six, the only III that was on the level of a II). Their fellow squadmates continue to pin the Hunters as they try to assist the two by keeping the aliens preoccupied.

"Go for their backs! That's the weak point!" He yelled as he fired another grenade at the right most Hunter, further damaging their shield and their bodies at the same time. The Hunters then charged at the two Centurions as they leaped over the aliens and used their built in boosters to maneuver themselves to rush at their backs when their built-in jetpacks boosting them forward. Havoc easily slices apart his Hunter's back as he moves with high speed and kills the Hunter before he could react as the worm pieces fall to the ground.

Jackal's Hunter however reacted quickly enough to try swing it's shield at him. Miguel slides under the attack while swinging his left Fusion sword into its leg which brings down the large being. It tries to fire its Fuel Rod Cannon at Jackal but its shot out of its hand by Jaeger's DMR as Jackal follows up with a slash at its throat which causes it to roar in pain. It then retaliates by thrusting its shield forward to knock down the Centurion, but Jackal quickly pivots around the attack as he then swings his right blade as he finishes his spin and cuts off the Hunter's head. It falls to the floor as yellow blood squirts out from the stump while Jackal flicks his blades to clean them as he then sheaths them at his sides.

"Nice job Jackal." Ursa comments as he reloads his Gatling gun. "Guess that proves that the bigger they are, the harder they fall."

"Castor." Chief said to the female mutant. "How did you pull that off? Is it some special ability of your suit?"

Cynthia smiled under her helmet as she responded. "That little trick? I can do that because I'm a Tiberium Mutant. One of the best actually."

"Tiberium Mutant?" John quizzically asked.

"Don't worry Chief," Havoc said as he loaded in a new magazine for his GD-14, "we'll tell you he whole thing once we get to the _Olympus_."

John had to admit, the Centurions were definitely capable in battle. While he did admit that Havoc and Jackal rushing at the Hunters was reckless, but they knew what they were doing. The boosters on their armor was something to take notice of, since they were able to move their bodies around with more rotational speed. Their fusion blades were also quite powerful since they were able to cut through their armor's weakpoints from what he could see with the cut limbs and armor areas that had cut marks. Plus, their firearms were able to easily cut down the enemy units with the slugs punching through their armor plus the laser weapon that Jackal had were on the same level as the Covenant's weapons. Plus, there was the fact that both he and Cortana were curious about Castor's abilities and about the whole "Tiberium Mutant" point.

Overall, he could say that Fireteam Praetorian were far more skilled then he could have thought.

"Nice work." He said simply as he passed by them. "Come on, we need to keep going."

The Centurions nod as they keep following the Chief.

* * *

 **Captain Zachary "Blaze" Jackson**

 _"Man, this will be one hell of a battle."_

The Strangereal Ace couldn't help but be amazed by both the size of the enemy fleet and the sheer number of enemy fighters that were appearing from the remaining carriers. Fellow GDI planes were taking formation in their squadrons and flights as they began to pick out targets for their missiles to attack before the enemy could get close. However, due to vast number of enemies coming out, even with most of the fighter groups going after the enemy with ODMM and ADMM missile pods along with their usual loadouts, they would be vastly outnumbered.

However, he and others like him from both Strangereal and other planets had been training to be masters of Zero-G maneuvers and dogfighting in general proving to be superior to Neo Nod's best and against overwhelming numbers of Scrin drones.

Blaze soon turned to see Two F-99 Eagles, one F-87 Phoenix, and a F-79 Stormhawk fly next to him in formation. He could see each of them baring their famous marks on their bodies of their aircraft, identifying themselves to their fellow pilots.

The Phoenix had an emblem of a red dog chewing down on its chain along with more plyons for more ordinance as seen wit more ODMM pods under it along with more AA missiles.

The other Stormhawk had a blue mobius strip with a place flying out of the furthest hole of the infinity-equse symbol along with an M370A1 Ion cannon in the underbelly of the fighter.

One of the two Eagle fighters had a stylized bird emblazoned on it along with two Trident nuclear missiles under the wings for taking out enemy ships.

The last fighter had a symbol of a vulture holding in its beak a cross made of four stars connecting with one another on a blue background.

These were the five top aces of Strangereal assembled into a fighter squadron with a sixth on the way. The best fighter unit in the whole of GDI.

The new Razgriz Squadron.

"Looks like the ships just launched the next missile strike." Lucas "Mobius One" Sanders spoke to his fellow aces on the comms. Hundreds of missiles soon streaked through the blackness of space at the enemy, far more then the previous strike had been doing. Alongside the Crossbow missiles were the Mk3 and Mk4 versions of the Nimbus missiles that been developed in Strangereal prior to GDI's arrival on the planet along with a new missile in the arsenal. The Mk3 versions were designed for the missiles original use as a burst missile, taking out dozens of enemy fighters and aircraft in one fell swoop. GDI had increased the amount of explosive power in the burst missiles in order to deal with the massive numbers of Scrin drones that would attack during space battles with them during the previous Scrin Wars.

The Mk4 missiles were made purely for anti-ship purposes. They swapped out the Thermobaric warhead with fusion warheads that are able to deliver the force of four MOAB bombs in a single package. Their speed was increased via improved rocket engines and maneuvering thrusters that would allow the missiles to wobble around, allowing them to dodge good amounts of enemy CIWS fire. They proved to be also effective in striking ground targets due to the advanced fuse that allows the missiles Dumb AI to detonate in an airburst explosion which can cause large amounts of damage to enemy ground forces.

However the newer missile that was fired alongside them was a new type of anti-ship missile, designed to eventually replace the Mk4 Nimbus. The Harpoon anti-ship missile, based in terms of looks on the of the Exocet missile but enlarged to have a warhead that's the equal of 1.5 FOAB bombs in terms of TNT output. It had much better maneuverability and speed then the Mk4 Nimbus and this would be it's first test in combat. This would be able to improve the destructive power of GDI ships in battle with them planning to get the missile out within the next few years in order to prepare for another war with the Scrin.

The missiles flew overhead of the massive grouping of GDI planes with them streaking towards the enemy fleet with some of the missiles flying towards the unshielded ships in the enemy fleet. The EMP missiles flew forward of the anti-ship missiles as they began draining more of the enemy's shields and crippling subsystems aboard ships with major and point defense weapons dropping along with some engines shutting down. Then the anti-ship missiles begin impacting multiple ships with them destroying several small ships and badly damaging the capital ships.

Several more CCS Battlecrusiers, CAS Assault Carriers, and ORS Heavy Cruisers were taken out easily along with dozens of enemy destroyers and corvettes.

The Covenant then began to charge back up their weapons in order to fire back on the human fleet. However, among the badly damaged ships was the _Song of Retribution,_ Madma's flagship. The communications on the ship was disabled, meaning that the Covenant fleet was in fact in chaos with their command structure being crippled due to the first strike made by GDI. Now some of the more cooler heads were trying to get some of their squadrons to return fire as soon as possible, however because of this their return fire would end up being lessened.

One by one, the Covenant squadrons return fire at the GDI fleet and break down the last of the FSPs. The next couple of volleys end up hitting the shields on GDI ships, causing most of the crew to get shaken around on board. Luckily, All GDI soldiers and soldiers were equipped with space units and space oxygen masks in order to help them survive if they're blasted into space. Raven himself was holding on to the railing overlooking the bridge as the crew on the _Olympus_ gets shaken up from taking the most fire.

Thankfully, the Firestorm shield's hold against the erratic fire with the frigates taking heat from the plasma fire bleeding past the shields as the cooling systems come online to lessen the effect.

Blaze tightens his grip on the joystick as he turns back to face the enemy fleet.

 _"Attention all fighter and assault units, we must take down as many of the enemy fleet as possible to give our forces a better position to continue fighting."_ Daniel speaks through the comms to all strike groups. _"Razgriz Squadron, all bogies are fair game. Eliminate any and all alien aircraft."_

"Copy that Daniel." Blaze says aloud. "Alright Razgriz, time to teach these new aliens some manners."

"Alright then, about time we can get some action." William "Cipher" Carter, the mercenary turned professional soldier as well as the oldest in the squad had been doing training in the virtual combat simulators in order to keep his skills up. Now with the massive numbers of enemy fighters coming in with number that far eclipsed what he had fought before even at the Round Table, he was getting in his zone.

"Time to go to work everyone. May the Golden King smile upon us." Travis "Talisman" Crowe, the Angel of Emmeria says aloud.

"Finally, time to clean house." Jacob "Nemesis" Alexander, the Southern Cross of Aurelia cracked his neck as he readied himself to take out the genocidal aliens without any mercy.

"Alright Razgriz, let's move out!" Blaze says with an air of authority. "Blaze, engaging."

"Talisman, engaging."

"Nemesis, engaging."

"Cipher, engaging."

"Mobius One, engaging."

The five fighters along with hundreds of other fighters soon closed the distance with the incoming Covenant fighters. However, well before they could get in weapons range the Burst missiles roared into the enemy fighter formations. The missiles imploded in the formations, quickly overwhelming the energy shields and destroying the enemy fighters. Dozens began to turn into scrap without even coming close to the enemy forces with the Banshees that were following the Seraph fighters suffering even more due to their lack of shields. Hundreds to nearly a thousand were destroyed via the burst missile attack, but more and more kept coming regardless of the casualties already suffered by their side.

They soon closed into range for the long range AA missiles to fire upon the enemy. Blaze's HUD lit up with target locks for eight enemy fighters via the COFFIN III system with other fighters also getting their own separate targets. He had in the hardpoints for his Stormhawk eight Archer missiles for each targeted fighter as he put his thumb on the release trigger.

"Fox Three, Fox Three!" He yelled as the missiles flew out from his fighter along with hundreds of others streaking through space. The Covenant fighters pulled into several high-g maneuvers in order to avoid the incoming missiles along with deploying any countermeasures they had with about 15% of them missing their targets.

However, the rest didn't.

Their shields were overwhelmed do to the amount of explosive filler the missiles had with a good portion of the fighters already having lost their shields due to the burst missile strike which destroyed them easily. Countless Storm pilots burned to ashes or turned to nothing due to the explosions of their ships with them screaming in anger, sorrow, and fear as they're lives got snuffed out without them doing anything to get back at their enemies. The banshee's were even worse off do to their lack of shields with many being unable to dodge as they had gotten damaged from the burst missiles with several smoking prior to the AA missiles impacting them.

Within the span of a couple of minutes, GDI had destroyed thousands of enemy fighters without breaking a sweat.

However, they weren't finished yet as they armed their ODMM and ADMM missiles which lock onto 12 to 24 enemies which one per missile. Soon enough, thousands more missiles streaked forward as more Covenant fighters were forced to try and dodge the more numerous missile barrage. However they ended up only avoiding 12% of the missiles as the rest added countless more to already massive number of dead that they had. Back on the Covenant ships, nearly all of the Uggnoy were panicking and even most of the Sangheili were getting scared by the ease that these new humans were killing them so easily. This further added to the confusion that swarmed through the Storm fleet.

However, despite the massive number of enemy fighters destroyed prior by both the burst missiles and regular missiles, they were still outnumbered.

Soon enough, they were getting even closer as GDI fighters began to get more lock-ons for their ADMM and ODMM missiles before they would close into gun range. The COFFIN III system was able to target the maximum fighters of either of the weapon systems the aircraft were carrying and they managed to fire off another volley before the enemy was able to fire off their own long range weapon in order to try and kill some of the enemy before they were forced into close combat. Even more enemy aircraft burst into flames as the GDI pilots soon broke into two forces with the two sides going for a pincer attack on the out of formation Storm fighters.

"Alright people, let's make this a Turkey Shoot!" Blaze said as he and the rest of the squadron dived into the ever expanding furball. He had gotten a Seraph fighter in his gun sight as he twisted and turned with the enemy fighter. While the Storm pilot was pulling off as many maneuvers as he knew, Blaze as easily able to keep up with him as he pressed the trigger on his joystick. 30mm rounds flew in front of him as the rounds easily brought down the Seraph's shields and eventually the fighter blew in spectacular fashion. He then armed his two Hawk missiles which were shorter range heat seeking missiles and fired at two Banshee Interceptors that were going after a Phoenix fighter, easily destroying them and allowing his fellow pilot to turn out of his little Dogfight and target another Seraph.

 _"Viper 4, you got two bogeys on your six! Break right!"_

 _"Gotcha! Two more kills under the belt!"_

 _"How many of these bastards are there!?"_

 _"Somebody help! I've got three on my tail!"_

 _"Keep calm kid, I'm on my way."_ The last one being said by Mobius One as he turned to rescue the young pilot.

However, despite the brave pilots preforming at their best, GDI was losing planes in the massive furball. Some planes were shot down or destroyed by lucky Fuel Rod shots and plasma blasts overpowering energy shields and the sturdy frames of GDI's planes. While some had managed to eject before they were destroyed, others were not so lucky. Thankfully a large chunk of the enemy's fighters were the bulbous ships with the frame wings with the engines at the ends which didn't have any shields on them which allowed for ADMM and ODMM missiles being capable to downing them by the dozens in minutes. The main problem was the teardrop shaped fighters which were quite maneuverable, not on the same level as the Phoenix interceptors but they were quite capable opponents.

Due to the massive numbers of enemy fighters and attack craft however, several thousand enemies were heading for the ships.

While they had left one quarter of their fighters to guard the ships, they would still overwhelm them and attack the ships.

Much like the main force of fighters attacking them earlier, hundreds more enemies were killed by the large number of anti-air missiles with even more falling to another volley of burst missiles from the GDI ships impacting the reforming enemy aircraft fleet. Now that they were getting even closer to the ships, the missile pods containing the AIM-70 Sparrow anti-air missiles came to life as thousands fired at the incoming swarm. Resembling the RIM-162 Evolved Sea Sparrow Missile from the early 21st Century, these new Sparrows were able to rocket forward at hypersonic speeds along with having special AI which could adjust and lock on to new targets if the original ones are able to remove the lock on them. Once more, the Storm pilots were flying into a death trap as thousands more were falling quickly.

Next the Ballista revolving cannons opened up with flak shells. The shells had a highly advanced fuse that would allow them to detonate near enemy aircraft as dozens of cluster bombs burst out of the rounds and impacted the enemy fighters, turning many into scrap metal. The cannons themselves were able to fire at a rate of 120 rounds per minute, making a virtual flak barrier around the ships which caused more Banshees and Seraphs to fall prey.

After that, the M100 Laser CIWS on the ships came alive as well targeting not only the enemy craft but also having their output adjusted to destroy incoming Plasma torpedoes. Daniel had quickly calculated that via adjusting the output of the lasers and focusing a couple to a few of them at a single torpedo, they can destroy the energy weapon before it can come close to hitting the ships. Thankfully due GDI ships having several of the system due to experience in dealing with the usual Scrin drone swarms, the amount of lasers firing at the incoming fighters was only marginally reduced.

Blaze was now on the tail of three more Seraphs as they want in for a seeming kamikaze run on one of the frigates. Quickly firing off two more AA missiles, he was able to get two more enemy fighters under his belt as the enemy fighters exploded in a blaze of fire. The final fighter attempted what seemed to be split-s in order to escape the deadly ace as he pushed his Seraph to its limit in his turns. However, Blaze easily was able to roll inverted as he pointed his nose up and dove behind his target as he lined up his gunsight.

A two second burst later, the Seraph exploded as they impacted and broke through the shields.

Cipher meanwhile had fired off the last six ODMM missiles at a flight of Banshees, destroying eight out of twelve. He quickly nosed up, rolled inverted and swung to the left of the remaining formation. He quickly got of a burst of fire at the first attacker before guiding his guns at the remaining enemies.. He quickly pulled to the right as three Seraphs fired on him, attempting to avenge their comrades's death. Cipher quickly pulled off a Herst maneuver or J-turn, using his aircraft's thrust-vectoring engines to increase the sharpness of the turn. His G-suit squeezing his body as he pulled over 10Gs in order to position himself to come at the three enemy fighters. He quickly rolled out of the way of a Fuel Rod shot as he opened fire with his planes guns, quickly shooting one down and damaging a second as his pass ended. He then preformed a split-s, using his built up speed to shoot his plane forward as he soon got on the tail of his two targets. He positioned himself and fired on the damaged Seraph while firing off a Hawk missile at the final one, killing them in the span of nearly two seconds.

Nemesis meanwhile had gotten through the furball along with several wings of GDI fighters as they flew towards the Covenant Fleet as more missiles fired upon the fleet alongside another volley of the GDI ship's main weapons. While GDI was starting to run out of EMP missiles which they focused most of them on the capital ships such as the CAS and DSS carriers, Supercruisers, ORS Heavy cruisers, and Battleships, the main weapons were able to punch through the smaller support ships shield's with only a little difficulty.

The Odin-Class battleships were able to claim 5 CAS Assault Carriers, 6 DDS Carriers, 6 Supercruisers, and 4 CPV Super Destroyers, the latter shield's breaking down due to the turreted Ion cannons opening fire on them. The _Freya_ focused on three of the Assault Carriers which her last EMP missiles were able to badly weaken the shields of two of the carriers which allowed her Super Ion Cannons to destroy the enemy ships and she focuses her last one on a nearby Supercruiser as the nearly 3.5 km ship was gored like a harpoon spearing a whale. She then fired her ionized railguns at two more CAS Assault Carriers, smashing through the front bulb of the ships and smashing them inward like someone taking a railroad spike hammering it in with a sledgehammer. Finally the _Freya_ fired it's Super Firestorm cannons and nailed two Supercruisers with the pulses, blowing the fronts away as they were disintegrated.

 _Mars_ and _Zeus_ were able to blast through the other ships they destroyed much in the same way with several dozen of their remaining Crossbow missiles impacting other nearby ships such as SDV Corvettes, a couple of Covenant battleships, and a few more CSS battlecruisers. Their Phalanx and Laser CIWS came alive with yellow streaks and red beams crisscrossing the black void as more and more enemy aircraft were killed on mass. The other GDI ships blasted even more ships away with them adding 56 more ships to the growing debris pile building up in front of the metal planet and damaging 48 more. However, while they were easily blasting away the enemy ships, some of the smaller ships in the GDI fleet were taking damage as the Plasma weapons were bleeding through the shields and causing several casualties as crew members were knocked around and were sent to the medical bay.

The smaller ships such as the frigates and destroyers Firestorm shields had their shields drop past 50% as they began to get bombarded by the enemy forces as some of them began to coordinate their fire. The larger ships were having their shields at around 70% percent and were still strong, however with the bigger concentration of fire over the course of battle, the crews were getting worried as the shields began to drop faster and faster. Of course, GDI was losing more and more aircraft as they had almost 80 planes with more being added to the overall casualties of the battle. The Covenant soon began to focus their smaller ships against their weight class opponents as their ships began to focus on their GDI equivalents as they continued to drop their shields quickly.

However, much to the surprise of the Covenant, almost all of GDI's small ships had black and purple energy portals appeared in front of them as the ships went into the portals as many of them disappeared into the ships.

While this confused the Covenant shipmasters as to where they had gone, they couldn't focus on that as their ships were getting pounded by GDI attacker aircraft. The Strike Orcas released their Trident nuclear missiles which destroyed the SDV Corvettes and was able to badly damage any of the larger ships as the EMP pulses messed with the targeting systems on-board their ships. Dozens upon dozens of crew members and soldiers aboard the ships were soon blasted into the coldness of space, quickly freezing up in whatever posses they were in prior. Other Strike Orcas armed with Lancelot missiles began to target point defense cannons in order to clear the zone of AA fire for follow-up units on their attack runs and those equipped with the M370A2 ion cannon in their underbelly focused fire on the more vulnerable points of the ships, their blasts either knocking out the subsystems or on some cases with critical shots causing the ships to blow up. Among those targeting were the SDV Corvettes as they lacked shields which made perfect targets to take out along with any enemy ships that had lost their shields.

Talisman was defending a strike group of Strike Orcas as they launched an attack on a CAS Assault Carrier, taking out any of the Banshee Interceptors that rose to attack the group. His aircraft still had some of the ADMM missiles which he launched to clear the field and followed up with using his four Hawk missiles in quick succession. His HUD and listed 22 more kills under his belt with 36 more approaching the Strike Orcas. Thankfully four Stormhawks appeared overhead of him fired off four Hawk missiles and 4 ADMM missiles each destroying the incoming interceptors.

The strike Orcas soon dropped their payload of two thousand ton bombs on the enemy carrier, doing enough to where the front bulb was badly damaged preventing the ship from using its energy projector. Soon four Paladins appeared with M370A2 ion cannons and finished the crippled ship off.

Talisman soon continued on the attack firing off two Lancelot missiles at where the Plasma torpedo launcher was on a CSS battlecruiser that had its shields brought down. The missiles hit their mark as the built up energy inside them combined with the explosion from the missiles blew a large hole in the side of the enemy ship. A shot from one of the Granger-Class battlecruisers's ion cannons finished it off as he pulled away.

"Hey Blaze, how's things on your end?"

Blaze was still in the midst of combating the massive number of attacking enemy aircraft. He had exhausted all of his missiles and was trying to focus his shots as much as possible at this point. He had destroyed over 100 aircraft at this point but could see no end in sight. Mobius One had also shot down nearly 80 aircraft and had saved several fellow pilots from death. However, even with their highly vaunted skills they were losing more and more pilots and the enemy's numbers while decreasing were still numerous. More and more Covenant fighters soon broke through the furball and began to attack the main capital ships with hundreds of Fuel Rod cannons shots impacting the ships. While their shields were holding, with both the increasing numbers of enemy aircraft attacking the ships and the constant fire from the enemy ships were decreasing them even more as the remaining cruisers, light carriers, and light dreadnoughts had their shields drop to less then 20%.

20 Paladin heavy attack aircraft soon approached a group of CCS battlecruisers that were firing on the Granger-Class battlecruiser _MacArthur_ with their Plasma lances trying to drain the shields and finally damage the ship. They were escorted by 16 Phoenix fighters as they fired 192 ADMM missiles at the swarm of Banshee Interceptors coming at them while the Paladins were able to fire with their Hawk anti-air missiles sending 40 at the enemy force. While they were able to take out over half of the incoming force, the remaining enemy fighters fell upon them. While the Phoenix fighters were able to keep up with the maneuverable Covenant fighters, they were able to take out 6 Paladins before Cipher appeared and fell upon the enemy force with his remaining missiles and rounds, downing 20 more enemies. The break allowed the Paladins to open fire on the enemy ships with four each attacking a ship. The concentration of fire was able to break through the weakened shields and cause several explosions on the Plasma torpedo silos detonating. The ships ended up getting badly damaged as the _MacArthur_ was able to use the time to finish off the four ships with another volley of missiles causing them to go up in smoke.

Halberd bombers and Eagle strike fighters also released their ordnance onto enemy ships as well. The stealthy arrowhead like bombers dropped their 20 ton payloads of bombs on enemy capital ships, mainly singling out CAS assault carriers and DDS carriers in order to lower the amount of enemy planes that would be able to fight. They were able to take out several torpedo silos causing streams of explosions on the enemy carriers and causing them to fall out of formation. Several of them included a dozen Trident missiles and fired them at several more carriers with the EMP pulses messing up their subsystems and the warheads blasting massive holes on the hulls of the ships. They were able to take out around 20 enemy ships with 5 of them being CAS assault carriers and 6 DDS carriers.

The attacks continue, adding more and more ships to the scrap field around the battle as GDI had lost over a hundred aircraft after 10 minutes of intense combat. As for the Covenant, they had lost over ten thousand fighters as more of GDI's fighters began to land on their home carriers in order to rearm as those that stayed to fight kept trying to hold off the remaining enemy fighters. Even the aces of Strangereal had to land on the _Olympus_ once their ammo had been spent. Now that the Covenant's numbers finally began to tell, some of GDI's ships were on the verge of losing their shields with the remaining Praetorian-Class cruisers in the fleet dropping to nearly 10% and with the battlecrusiers over 20%. However, over 280 ships were destroyed by the massive air strike mostly Corvettes as they were unshielded. Dozens of CCS battlecruisers also were taken out due to the large number of Trident missiles fired at them, dropping the number of capital ships in the Covenant fleet by a significant margin which dropped the amount of enemy fire.

 _"Guys! The ships are back and in the rear of the enemy force!"_

The frigates, destroyers, and most of the cruisers soon appeared behind the enemy's lines.

The Covenant shipmasters were taken aback by the sudden appearance of the enemy ships appearing behind them. They had no idea that the mysterious portals that had opened up in front of the ships before were in fact GDI's method of FTL travel. Luckily, the ships had already positioned themselves to fire their weapons once they were fully charged. They unleashed their Ion and Firestorm cannons along with a massed missile barrage at the enemy Corvettes and the ships which their AI had been able to list as shield less due to the previous volleys from GDI ships.

They were able to take out 27 Corvettes, 12 Destroyers, 5 CCS battlecruisers, 4 ORS Heavy Cruisers, 2 Supercruisers, and 3 DDS Carriers.

Blaze had finished rearming his fighter as he heard Admiral Raven speak over GDI's closed comm channels.

 _"All strike group ships,"_ he said with a focused tone his voice, _"Launch Mars missiles now! All heavy ships launch Mars missiles 5 seconds following first attack."_

 _'Launching the nukes already?'_ Blaze thought to himself, _'Guess the Admiral must want end this quickly.'_

"Blaze," Talisman reported over the radio, "All strike teams have pulled out from their attack runs. The ships are clear to fire their nukes."

Blaze sighed in relief, it seemed that any chance of friendly fire was now gone. Of course the planes that were sent to protect the strike groups from enemy CAP units would have to fight their way through the massive number of enemy fighters as more and more planes were being lost due to the intense combat around GDI's ships.

The frigates, destroyers, and cruisers that made up the rear strike group soon launched dozens of Mars thermonuclear missiles at the rear of the Covenant fleet. Due to the need for the missiles to make it through the thick point-defenses of Neo Nod and Scrin ships, they were designed to wobble around, moving around while still being able to fly to the target selected for them. The Covenant point defense systems were able to intercept 30 of the 120 missiles launched by the ships which was half of their total number of missiles altogether.

The remaining 90 though reached the ships and caused the same number of suns to appear before both parts of the GDI fleet.

The nearly 2 teratons of TNT inside each missiles obliterated the targeted ships which included the CAS assault carriers, battleships, supercruisers, DDS carriers, and ORS heavy cruisers. They quickly overwhelmed the shields and atomized the ships into nothing. The EMP pulses that were a result of the weapons soon blasted out, causing hundreds of the smaller ships subsystems to go haywire and weaken their shields in return. The massive number of interceptors near the Covenant ships also took hundreds of losses as they were wiped from existence or shutdown due to the EMP pulse.

However, a larger wall of the Thermonuclear missiles came in from the main GDI fleet, 280 in all as they flew under and over the massive furball before moving to converging towards the enemy fleet. Due to the EMP pulses from the earlier missile strike, there was less point-defense fire meaning only around 18 of the missiles being destroyed before they impacted the fleet. over 250 missiles impacted the ships, destroying them completely as hundreds more ships soon began to suffer problems with their electronics. Several groups of Covenant fighters and interceptors began to fly at the human ships as dozens of Sparrow AA missiles. The Covenant had now lost over 15,000 aircraft by this point in the battle with 4,500 more disabled by the EMP pulses. Now the morale of GDI pilots began to rise as they could see the light at the end of the tunnel as the Strangereal aces were once again taking down dozens of enemy fighters by themselves.

However, some of the ships that ended up not being as affected by the EMPs soon reopened fire with dozens of Plasma torpedoes going towards the strike group, overwhelming the point-defense systems of the ships, causing dozens of them to impact the ship's shields. The Frigates shields were among the first to go down as two of the Mercury class Frigates, _John Paul Jones_ and _Samuel Nicholas a_ nd one of the destroyers, _Ticonderoga_ were soon taking damage. Their Octagonal Composite armor, the same armor that allowed them to stand up to Scrin and Neo Nod Tiberium laser cannons soon began to absorb the damage given by the Plasma weaponry of the Storm ships. Hundreds of GDI fighters flew towards the strike group and began to fire their long range AA missiles at the swarm of enemy aircraft causing more alien fighters to turn into fireballs as the planes closed into range.

Blaze soon saw the wounded ships launch every last one of the missiles along with all of their escape pods, transports and dropships as they began to take damage that armor wouldn't be able to take. The frigate's last two Mars missiles each impacted four Covenant battleships each before firing their last Ion cannon blasts at an enemy Supercruiser, causing the ship to explode. _Ticonderoga_ soon had fires breaking out as they kept up the pressure with their secondary weapons pummeling any nearby enemy ships as 150mm rounds, 20 cm slugs, and Firestorm pulses fired non-stop, damaging or destroying any ships they could. The rest of the strike group soon launched their remaining nuclear missiles at the fleet, 116 more missiles streaking towards the enemy fleet. While 16 of them had been intercepted, the rest impacted, causing the lost of 100 ships with the number of enemy capital ships dropping quickly. This allowed the Cruisers in the strike group to focus fire on the smaller ships with the unshielded Corvettes falling like dominoes to overwhelming broadside fire from the ships. Not only that, but the nuclear missiles allowed for even more ships to be shut down, lessening the amount of return fire from the Covenant ships, allowing any damaged ships to take out more enemy vessels.

Soon, after launching all available missiles the frigates began to erupt in flames. The escape pods soon launched out along with any transports and dropships available as the amount of enemy fire finally overwhelmed the armor as the EVA's took over with the ship's AI beaming to the nearby cruiser. Eventually, the ship's armor failed and the GDI ships soon erupted in a violent explosion.

The _Ticonderoga_ soon began to turn towards an enemy carrier as the flames on it grew in size. The ship's captain ordered the AI to beam off of the ship as he flew towards the Covenant ship. Before 3 nearby enemy Corvettes could destroy it fully, they were blasted away by a GDI battlecruiser's ion cannons. The _Ticonderoga_ soon impacted the carrier's center, causing a chain reaction that blew up both ships as the last rounds fired by the ship heavily damaged another Corvette.

Blaze saw the destruction of those ships and wished the souls of those ships a peaceful existence in the afterlife as he turned into a group of 20 Seraph fighters, determined to end this battle quickly.

* * *

 **Back on the** _ **Dawn**_

"Seriously? How many of these guys are there?" Jackal said for the fourth time today as he quickly decapitated another of the more muscular Elites.

The supersoldiers had fought their way up through the same corridors that they had originally gone though when they were to meet the Chief. Now they were becoming killing zones for the Covenant Storm soldiers as they shot their way through the squads that had landed. A couple of times Cortana had to lock down certain areas of the ship when the dropships (which Chief and Cortana called Phantoms) had fired their weapons in order to kill the group of supersoldiers. However, more and more enemy fighters began to come inside the ship.

"Stop complaining Jackal." Havoc said aloud as he fired two bursts of his GD-14 at an Elite's head, dropping the alien quickly. He then tossed another frag grenade at an incoming group of the more monstrous looking Grunts which were trying to suicide bomb the Centurions. The grenade blew up, sending shrapnel into the little aliens as they dropped their plasma grenades amid the regular Grunts, exploding and causing more losses. Ursa, finishing reloading his Gatling gun, stood back up and fired a stream of lead at a pair of Jackals, quickly overwhelming their hand shields and turning them into Swiss cheese.

Chief launched another grenade against a Hunter, causing it to block the attack with its arm shield. However, with it's sight obscured Kaze jumped over the large alien and in one quick spin attack, cut it's back. The blood of the worms sprayed everywhere as the Hunter fell, with Kaze running at an incoming Elite with fancy golden armor. Chief had called it a Elite Zealot, among the most deadly of the sword using aliens due to their skill and experience.

"Demon!" The split-liped alien shouted at him. "You shall pay for murdering my blood brothers!"

Kaze kept quiet as he swung his katana at the incoming energy sword, both weapons creating speaks as they collided. The Sangheili trusted at the Centurion with his blade as Kaze side-stepped the attack and horizontally swung his blade. The Sangheili blocked the attack as he swung his sword in a serious of furious slashes, trying to kill the new demon from the new human force. Kaze's armor and augmentations however greatly boosted his strength to the point where he could fight with Neo Nod cyborgs in combat and even rip off their limbs when he applied full force to doing so. Kaze expertly parried and blocked the alien's sword swings as his keen eyes and heightened reaction speeds allowed him to follow the attacks. However, both side's shields were dropping quickly as any strikes that made it through the other's defenses drained them quickly.

Eventually, he soon got an opportunity to strike back when in his anger, the Zealot overextended his thrust.

Moving quickly, Kaze pivoted to the left and swung his blade up as his stopped his movement. The fusion blade overwhelmed the remaining energy shielding and cut the Sangheili's arm off. Screaming in pain, the Elite tried to pull out his Plasma Repeater in order to force the Demon away, but Kaze quickly closed the distance and stabbed his blade through the helmet and into the Sangheili's brain. He then pulled it out of the alien's skull and flicked the blood off of it as he pulled out his pistol and shot four Grunts in the head and dove for cover afterword.

Jaeger fired her GD-17A into the heads of two Jackals who were armed with Covenant Carbines to snipe them from afar. The .338 rounds drove into the heads of the reptile-like aliens. Then she ducked behind her cover as another Hunter showed up and fired its Fuel Rod Cannon at the sniper. One shot passed overhead and exploded on the wall behind her and another landed in front of her and exploded before her cover. She then chose forum to better cover as the next shot hit where she was prior as she switched to her pistols to suppress a group not Grunts.

Ursa then pulled out his rocket launcher and aimed at the Hunter. He pulled the trigger as the rocket flew towards the tanky alien as it exploded and heavily damaged it. Jackal then dashed at the Hunter as he jumped over it and fired off a pulse shot from his GD-15, the powerful shot disintegrating the worms in the back and killing the being instantly. He then switched weapons to his grenade launcher and fired an HE grenade at a group of Grunts who try to run away from the munition. However, all GDI grenades had special AI that allows the explosives to be guided to their targets. They also included special thrusters that assists in guiding them to their targets meaning that cover wouldn't work in most cases. Thus, the grenade impacted in the center of the Grunts and exploded, turning them into blue mist.

Castor meanwhile had used her telekinesis to send any of their plasma grenades back towards the the Storm soldiers (which had the Centurions see that they are able stick to their targets before exploding). Another Elite charged at the Tiberium mutant determined to kill the magic demon who was sending their explosives back at them. Castor however wasn't too concerned as her right arm began to be encased in electricity as she thrust her arm forward. Suddenly, a stream of lighting shot out and shocked the Sangheili, shutting down his shields and eventually frying the alien.

"Guess that makes it the tenth question we need to ask our new friends about." Cortana quipped.

Chief simply grunted as he charged forward and fired from his MA5C at another Sangheili who was firing from cover with his Plasma Repeater. John quickly dodged the shots as he threw another of the EMP grenades he was given before as it takes out the Elite's shields. The alien attempted to move away from the fight its shields could get back up, but Jaeger quickly got off a shot as she killed it via headshot. Chief soon slid into cover as he reloaded his rifle grenade launcher.

Havoc soon slid next to him as well, his weapon now in its grenade launcher form as shot off an airburst round. It took out a trio of Jackals and knocked down some unfortunate Grunts before Ursa let off a burst of fire.

"Cortana," Chief said into his helmet, "how much further until we reach the missile controls?"

"Just a couple more hallways and your outside." Cortana quipped. "However, that will no doubt be where enemy forces will be focused the most. Unless we get those gunships that GDI is sending over, we could be stuck."

"Chief, just got word from the gunship flight." Havoc said to him as he fired an EMP grenade at two Elites. It shut down their weapons and shields as Kaze quickly cut down both enemies before firing off several shots from his pistol at a other group of Grunts. "They're firing at several drop ships that were heading for the ship, meaning we may have less enemies to deal with."

"What's the status on your fleet?" John said.

"Not good, fleet's starting to lose ships now." Havoc said as he switched his weapon back to its assault rifle mode. "We've used a good amount of our nuclear missiles and nearly destroyed one third of the whole damn force along with disabling over a thousand ships. However, things are still up in the air. Hopefully we end this battle before we start losing the main ships and transports."

Chief was of similar thoughts to to the GDI supersoldier. GDI's weaponry had once more impressed Chief as the Storm fleet had over half of their ships disabled or taken out, tilting the odds in GDI's favor even as they began to lose ships. If things kept going their way, they maybe able to pull off a massively lopsided victory that the UNSC could have only dreamed about during the war. They had proven in Chief's eyes that they were a force to be respected in the face of overwhelming odds, keeping their cool under enemy fire and een taking down more ships even as theirs were being destroyed. If Admiral Preston Cole was still around and had ships like their during the war, he may have been able to halt the Covenant advance and begun leading a counterattack that never would have been possible.

Chief soon fired upon another Elite who was charging at Kaze who was fighting another Elite Zealot, trying to prevent the Centurion from from getting attacked on two sides. _'Hopefully the UNSC will show up soon.'_ he thinks to himself. _'It may help GDI get more ships to survive this battle.'_

* * *

 **GDS _Olympus_**

"Sir! _John Paul Jones_ and _Samuel Nicholas_ are gone!"

" _Ticonderoga_ rammed into an enemy carrier! Both ships are gone!"

"Battlecruiser _McNeil II_ is beginning to take fire from 7 enemy dreadnoughts!"

"Cruiser _Spartan_ is reporting heavy damage! Captain Rico is flying the ship towards an enemy capital ship with all escape pods away!"

" _Freya_ is maneuvering to cover the transports. They're getting their ACE replenishment devices to run at full power to keep firing any missiles as possible."

"Frigates _John Basilone_ and _Alfred Cunningham_ taking damage! They're jumping back to our position!"

" _Light Dreadnoughts Horatio Nelson_ and _Alfred von Tirpitz_ reporting shields down to 10% Taking heavy fire!"

Raven slammed his fist on the railing as now GDI began to lose ships. Thankfully they were able to fire off all of their missiles at the enemy before they went down and took dozens of ships above them in terms of tonnage. However, he knew that unless they were able to finish any more ships before the disabled ones came back online they would be overwhelmed. Thankfully, the enemy wasn't as focused or coordinated due to the enemy's leader not being able to get the enemy to group together more effectively. Not only that, but due to the massive EMP pulses caused by the nuclear missiles over a thousand enemy ships had been disabled. However, if the battle continued as it was, soon he would be losing his capital ships. Sure they were capable of taking massive amounts of damage due to the durability of the armor, however, like everything else in the universe, they had limits and would eventually be destroyed.

Thankfully, GDI had one ace in the hole what would allow them to deal with any munition shortage.

Developed by G-labs for use by the armed forces in order to deal with ammunition shortages, the Hephaestus Builders were made to allow GDI to stay in the fight and have continuous missile barrages and more shells and slugs to send down range. They were able to make any munition, firearm, and vehicle in GDI's arsenal with the times to make them varying on the size of the object. They crave ingots of raw materials fed into them and quickly assemble them into components for the weapons and munitions needed.

They were first tested during the Sixth Scrin War on a few Odin-Class battleships, taking on a Scrin fleet four times their size. They had expanded all of their original missiles over the course of the battle and had become limited to their main and secondary weapons to fight against the enemy. However, the Hephaestus Builders were able to eventually replenish some of the missile pods in under 20 minutes as their shields were dropping below 30%. Eventually, the Scrin fleet had closed the distance to the point where their point defense systems weren't as capable of intercepting GDI's missiles in sufficient numbers. Thus when the order was given to fire the new missiles, the Scrin were barely able to intercept a few dozen missiles before the rest impacted them and destroyed a sizable amount of the enemy fleet.

Now in this battle, every GDI ship had several of them working overtime in producing dozens of missiles which were loaded into the pods via special autoloaders that load into the pods to be fired.

"Order all ships to fire all of their Mars missiles at the enemy fleet and focus more power to recharging the weapons! We need to balance out the losses as much as we can!" He ordered with an edge to his tone. "Also order all gunships to arm Longbow and Hawk missiles and join the fighters in shooting down enemy air units, we need to lessen their numbers quickly before they overwhelm our fighters and get any damaged ships behind the capital ships which still have their shields so they can get their back up and restock missiles!"

While the order soon went out, dozens more plasma lances slammed into the _Olympus_ and the ship shook and the shields ahd dropped to nearly 40%.

"Sir!" Ensign Nathan reported. "Scanners are detecting some type of spacial signature approaching the battlefield!"

"What is it now?" Raven demanded

"It's similar to the Covenant's FTL. From the readings Wesley and Daniel were able to tell, it could be Covenant reinforcements."

Raven soon broke into a sweat at the thought. They would barely able to fight any more enemy ships at the rate the battle was going even if they were able to replenish the

Soon, a large Slipspace portal opened up next to a CCS battlecruiser as a massive ship rammed through the Covenant ship as it came through. However, unlike the Covenant ships they had been fighting this was of different design. They had four large holes in the front of the ship , seemingly massive coilguns if the data they had received from Logan on the wreck _Dawn_ was any indication. It was rather blocky in overall design with a sleek appearance on its outer hull with numerous shielded hangers for launching aircraft.

Soon enough, dozens more portals opened up as more ships of similar design appeared in formation to the sides of the massive ship. However, Some of the nearby GDI planes were able to see the writing on the side of the massive ship.

 _"Admiral!"_ One of the pilots said over the comms, _"I see the writing on the side of the ship! UNSC Infinity."_

 _'UNSC? Thank God.'_ Raven thought to himself. If it really was them, GDI may have a chance to get more ships out of this battle alive. The _Infinity_ seemed to be as large as the _Olympus_ with perhaps less weapons then they had on them but no doubt still effective in battle. Plus the sizable number of ships could allow them to deal split the fire of the Storm fleet and allow them to further pick off the enemy armada. There's no doubt they would be taken aback by the new human fleet much like how the AI Cortana was taken aback by Wesley and more humans outside of their organization, but they would have to deal with it later as they would have to engage the Storm fleet in front of them.

After all, they were fighting the same enemy so that would have to do for right now.

"Get me in contact with the Master Chief, we may need him to speak with the UNSC if we are to get them on our side." Raven spoke as he turned to Ensign Williams.

"Aye sir." She responded as she contacted Praetorian. Daniel soon began to open a communication channel to the large UNSC ship as they were no doubt confused to fleet attacking the Covenant fleet.

"Sir, comms are open. You speak with the UNSC now." The ship's AI said.

"Thank you Daniel." Raven said as he now began the most important talk in his career as a naval officer. "Attention UNSC vessels, this is Admiral Charles Raven of the Galactic Defense Initiative. We need assistance against the Covenant Storm armada you see in front of you. Do you copy?"

* * *

 **UNSC** _ **Infinity,**_ **just moments before**

Commander Thomas Lasky, the second in command of humanity's most powerful warship sighed for what seemed like the hundredth time. He, like most of the crew of the _Infinity_ were concerned due to the rising number of Covenant forces that the Storm had been gathering for the last few years. ONI had severely underestimated how much work Jul' Madma had put into making his force the largest of the Covenant remnant factions, bringing in thousands of ships under his command along with his allies to the planet known as Requiem. The majority of other Covenant forces had begun to consolidate their forces in the remainder of their controlled space with thousands more ships being amassed with them bringing in their older ships into the fleets in order to make for their lessening quality.

He couldn't help but wonder how it was possible for the Covenant Remnants to get their act together so quickly.

Admiral Serin Osman, the current head of ONI had been working overtime in order to figure out how Jul 'Madma was able to get the size of his force to where it was. Supposedly, the fleet that the _Infinity_ would end up confronting was a large part of a greater coalition that Madma was able to pull together. This force was positioned in a corner of space that was under Madma's control with thousands more ships assembled, albeit a good sized amount of the force were older ships made before the Covenant was in power.

"Commander Lasky?" The ship's AI, Roland appeared next to him via one of the projection ports that were throughout the ship. He was in the image of a WW2 Bomber Pilot with the quintessential jacket and cap. "The Captain wishes to speak with you. Best not to keep her waiting."

"Understood Roland, I'll be there a few mikes." Lasky said to ever-focused AI.

Roland nodded as he disappeared. Lasky soon left his quarters as he began to walk down the hallways to the elevators. He passed a couple of Marines which saluted him and he returned the gesture. The Marines had the look of late Human-Covenant War Marines with more armor on them and a black titanium bodysuit, It was the latest BDU used by the UNSC, the M53 which used experiential tech from the Spartan Project. They were the first mass produced BDU made that had an energy shield, but only was able to absorb two to three shots before they needed to recharge. It also included a liquid crystalline layer in the body suit which increased their physical capabilities, with one example being them being able to lift three times their body weight.

It was part of the latest expansion in the UNSC as weapons, gear, and vehicles that were in the prototype stage or were unable to be built due to the need for more of certain weapons. Alongside the quintessential Warthog for transporting UNSC troops to the battlefield were the Kodiak APC and Cougar IFV. The former's standard version was equipped with 4 20mm auto-cannons that had the ability to shoot at low flying aircraft in a light SPAAG role and able to carry 10 troops or 6 Spartans. The Kodiak also came in a medivac variant able to take 12 patients along with the equipment needed for medics to keep the soldiers alive. Another version was of a tank destroyer armed with a 105mm Gauss cannon to preform fast hit and run attacks against enemy armor with the Gauss cannon being strong enough to take out Wraith tanks. There was also a Mobile Fire Support variant that had a 120mm gun-mortar that could fire directly at enemy units or lob rounds at a high enough angle and came with an autoloader for faster firing.

The Cougar IFV was made in order to give the Mechanized infantry more firepower against Covenant forces when the Warthog variants weren't enough. However, much like the Kodiak APC, it wasn't chosen for production as the Warthog was needed in increasing numbers in order to make up for losses on the war-front. Armed with 2 M68 Gauss cannons or 2 Bushmaster 30mm auto-cannons, the Cougar was able to pump down a stream of fire able to take out light vehicles such as the Ghost without much issue and proved to be effective against Hunters.

In terms of Artillery, they had the old Rhino along with the lighter Fox mobile artillery with a 170mm cannon. It's lighter weight and high speed allowed the weapon system to be anywhere quickly on the battlefield and provide support fire for any unit that needs it. It also came equipped with an autoloader for faster firing of the cannon, allowing for 10 shells per minute at maximum setting and 6 for normal settings. They also had developed a newer version of the Rhino with two 320mm cannons instead of one and was equipped with two 20mm LAAG guns in order to deal with any low flying aircraft that would be trying to attack the large SPGs.

New tanks and mechs had also come out for the UNSC in recent years. The Older versions of the Scorpion tank were now armed with a 105mm Gauss cannon for improved punching power at over a mile, with its AP shells able to pierce Covenant Wraith tanks with ease. The newest tank in the UNSC was the M820 Lupus tank, a Scorpion tank on steroids with a 125mm Gauss cannon mounted in the middle of the tank, thicker armor that can withstand fire from heavy cannon fire, Wraith mortar shots, and heavy plasma weapons fire, and an upgraded engine. An upgrade version of the Grizzly Heavy MBT was also on board the _Infinity_ , armed with two 150mm Gauss cannons which were strong enough to damage the infamous Scarab walkers that were among the most terrifying weapons employed by the Covenant during the war. They also had on them two 20mm LAAGs for dealing with low flying enemy aircraft and infantry units that got too close.

They had also begun to produce the HRUNTING/YGGDRASIL Mark I Prototype Armor Defense System for use by the Marines and ODSTs to bring down more firepower on a battlefield and give them nearly the same level of power as a Spartan. It used the same weapons as the original version but had the ability to be equipped with a Gauss cannon on the left arm, switch out the shoulder mounted weapons for a Spartan laser which fed from a new Plasma fusion reactor, a hybrid of both UNSC and Covenant technologies. This new reactor was also part of the newer Mjolnir armor sets that would be coming out next year for use by all Spartans. Other new mechs included the new Mantis mech in both its standard and Command versions and the large Colossus mech that was considered to be the equal to the Mk II Grizzly.

And these were just the tip of the iceberg with even more vehicles and weapons in the massive ship, not even counting the upgraded versions of old UNSC ships that were being produced along with newer models to rebuild the Navy after the horrendous losses suffered during the war. Battlegroup Dakota, the group the _Infinity_ was apart of had of these new ships which had proven themselves in battle with the Storm and other Covenant Remnant groups prior to this mission. Along with 12 of the new Autumn-Class cruisers and the 10 Strident-Class frigates the _Infinity_ had aboard was five of the new Reach-Class battleships, 12 Artemis-Class battlecruisers, 16 Midlothian-Class Super Destroyers, three of the new Trafalgar-Class Supercarriers (which were improved versions of the Punic-Class Supercarriers) and 18 of the Marathon II-Class cruisers. These and other ships made up the ninety-six ships that made up the large UNSC force.

After a couple more elevator rides and more walking, Lasky had finally reached the bridge of the ship. He soon walked up to two female individuals talking with each other over the holo-table. One of them was in the Mjolnir Mark VI GEN2 armor and the other in the standard UNSC naval uniform with the captain's rank on the shoulders.

He stopped and saluted the captain, "Commander Lasky reporting captain."

Figures turned to face Lasky, their conversation over from the looks of it. One of them was Commander Sarah Palmer, the first of the new Spartan-IVs and head of all IV fireteams on the ship. The former ODST had been chosen by Spartan III Jun-A266, the sniper of Noble Team who had fought during the Battle of Reach and ones responsible for the Master Chief getting Cortana, which ended up allowing the events that had lead up to the end of Human-Covenant War. Palmer herself was a rather blunt individual, known for acting superior at times with other Spartans and known for being rather confident in battle. She preferred going into battle with twin Magnum pistols as she preferred act as an old fashioned gunslinger in battle. She was skilled no doubt, however experience may help her to improve as a leader and soldier Lasky thought to himself.

The other one however, was someone that many had thought was dead. A year ago, an ONI prowler was exploring a newly discovered Forerunner facility in deep space. The team of ONI ODSTs had stepped onto the site and were met by the AI running the facility, Neutral Observer. HE had been waiting for the Reclaimers much like other Forerunner AI that the UNSC had encountered, showing the ONI personnel around the base which was a small shipyard and medical base. Deep inside the base, the Forerunner AI had shown them a medbay containing several cryogenic pods with individuals that it had been watching over for a couple of years.

Much to the teams surprise and later the surprise of UNSC HIGHCOM, they were all individuals believed to be deceased.

One of them was the person that Lasky had been brought to meet, newly promoted Captain Miranda Keyes.

The former commander had woken up back on Reach once she and the other humans that were back from the dead were brought to the planet. She had been informed of the end of hostilities between the humans and the newly christened Swords of Sangheilos under Arbiter Thel' Vadum. The last thing she had remembered as a burning sensation and then total blackness as she hit the floor, due of course to the Prophet Truth killing her with his weapon. She had been slightly saddened that the UNSC had no idea if Master Chief and Cortana were still alive following the end of the Battle of Installation 00 and wanted to see she could lead a task force to find them.

Following her reinstatement into the UNSC, she been chosen as the Captain of the _Infinity_ over Captain Andrew Del Rio. A wise choice since Lasky had heard that the man was stubborn and followed orders far too much to the point where he cared more for the mission at times then individuals. Miranda was rather distant after getting her promotion to Captain, the rank held by her late father Jacob Keyes before he was killed by the Flood. She felt that she wasn't on the same level as her father who had done so much, but was determined to follow in his footsteps make him proud in the afterlife.

"At ease Commander." She said in the same tone she had during the war. She then turned to Palmer, "We'll finish things later Commander, have the IVs stand by once we've reached Requiem. Don't want to have Madma start getting his hands on any Forerunner tech before we do."

"Yes Captain." Palmer responded as she walked away. She turned to Lasky and gave him a nod which he returned as she went out of the room.

Lasky turned back toward Miranda, "What was it you needed from me ma'am?"

Miranda gestured for him to get closer as she turned towards the front of the bridge, seeing the colors in slipspace pass the ship by in front of her. She then sighed as she spoke up. "I'm still agitated that Admiral Osman had _her_ come with us. I know she's the best we have in terms of knowing Forerunner technology, but still I don't like having her around on the ship."

Lasky knew which person Captain Keyes was talking about. Dr. Catherine Halsey, the founder of the Spartan II project which Master Chief had come from and the best person suited for understanding Forerunner tech and incorporating it into the UNSC. It had been revealed to the public the real side of the program, especially the revelation that the IIs were in fact children that were taken from their families when they were young and forced to undergo the augmentations which ended up making them into the supersoldiers that stopped the Covenant. ONI had gotten some of the flak as well due to their involvement of kidnapping the children, which got a good amount of their power taken away by the reestablished civilian government much to the displeasure of Osman. It had also been revealed that IIs were to be originally used against the Insurrection prior to the Covenant's appearance over Harvest in 2525. Halsey had been locked behind bars for war crimes and would to some hopefully be locked behind bars for the rest of her life.

Miranda was conflicted on the whole thing. While she had even more reason to hate her "mother" for her actions in taking children from their families and turning them into weapons, she still knew that Chief and the other IIs were the reason humanity survived the war. She knew that while many saw them as weapons, she and a few others knew they were still human under that armor and military focused minds. She had great respect for Chief considering everything he had done for humanity and knew that while many would say the Spartan program should never have happened from a moralist standpoint, she knew without them the Covenant would have killed off humanity.

"I understand your feeling on this Captain," Lasky said in a calming tone, "However, the UNSC needs make sure that we can prevent any Covenant Remnant from getting their hands on Forerunner technology for their own uses. We don't need guys like Madma using them to try and restart the Great Journey with them having an advantage over us."

"I know Commander Lasky, I just don't want to deal with her being on this ship more then I need to." Keyes responded.

"At least we have several Spartan IIs and IIIs here along with the IVs. If Madma does try anything, he'll be in for a one-sided defeat." Lasky said while crossing his arms. Miranda was not the only one that had been found at the Forerunner installation that day as the other pods revealed five particular Spartans that were with her.

To the shock of the UNSC personnel there, they happened to be none other then the five other members of Noble Team. When Jun had heard of his teammates who were now alive and well due to the Forerunners, he went to meet back up with his teammates whom he was glad to see again. When they had heard of the Spartan IV program and that he was the one in charge of finding candidates, Emile had scoffed saying that the IVs weren't capable of being Spartans unless they got their act together and acted like true Spartans.

Noble Team was later stationed on the _Infinity_ along with other Spartan IIIs that were there to assist in training the IVs. Among them were Rosenda-A344, Kevin-A282, Lucy-B091, and Tom-B292. The latter four IIIs were glad to see their good comrades again and they helped bring the Noble Team up to speed with the fighting against the Covenant Remnants.

Not only were the mentioned IIIs on the ship, but Miranda had also requested for Blue Team and the newly required Gray Team to join them as well. While the three members of Gray Team had been out of the loop for years since their capture, they had been able to get back up to form and were brought along in order to help deal with Madma's Covenant Storm. Either way, Miranda was glad to get more Spartans for the coming battle ahead.

"Captain." One of the bridge crew responded. "We're coming out of Slipspace now."

"Alright then. order the Stridents out of the _Infinity_ once we we're out and get all weapons active. Time we send Madma's armada to the scrapyard." Miranda said.

The ship soon emerged from slipspace as it rammed through a CSS battlecruiser right in front of it...

...right into a massive battle in progress.

"What in God's name!?" Miranda said as she saw what looked like hundreds upon hundreds of Covenant ship wrecks floating in front of the Forerunner planet with hundreds more seemingly floating without power. There were also thousands of disabled Covenant fighters floating around the battlefield as well, no doubt their pliots angered that they're sitting ducks. While there were still hundreds of ships fighting, they were being picked off by a fleet many times smaller then them as several black holes appeared with more ships (some with battle damage on them) appearing and firing missiles at the Covenant ships, destroying another 48 and damaging 34 more.

The unknown vessels were colored gold with sliver and looked sleeker then the UNSC ships with dozens of weapons on the hull firing away at the Covenant while their shields held against return fire or some without shields holding on against the bombardment due to their armor. As opposed to the Covenant, only a few ships from the unknown fleet were floating debris, meaning that they were slaughtering the Covenant with more firepower then the UNSC would have done.

"Captain, what is going on?" Lasky said as he was trying to process the image in front of him along with the rest of the crew.

"I have honestly no idea Commander." Miranda spoke with a confused tone in her voice.

"Captain!" Another of the bridge crew spoke up. "We are are receiving a transmission from the unknown fleet. It's from the large ship in the center."

Roland soon appeared next to both her and Lasky as he scanned the unknown flagship. "Ma'am, the unknown flagship is around the same size as the _Infinity._ We maybe looking at a force with similar capabilities to our own if not marginally above."

"Understood Roland, get the transmission up so we can hear it." Miranda ordered. The UNSC sailor soon brought up the transmission to the speaker system for the bridge to hear.

 _"Attention UNSC vessels, this is Admiral Charles Raven of the Galactic Defense Initiative. We need assistance against the Covenant Storm armada you see in front of you. Do you copy?"_

"That guy sounds human!"

"Galactic Defense Initiative? The hell is that?"

"Are these not UNSC?"

The bridge came alive with many crew members confused and in shock at the revelation. They didn't think that there were humans outside of the UNSC unless they were some Insurrectionist group that was positioned outside of their area of control.

"Everyone stand down!" Miranda yelled over the commotion. She didn't need this happening right now as they was a battle in front of them. She was as confused as the rest of them, however she needed to put them aside for right now. She then looked to the comms officer and nodded as she spoke up.

"Admiral Raven, this Captain Miranda Keyes of the UNSC _Infinity._ We read you loud and clear."

 _"Excellent, we were hoping to meet with you after this battle when we helped our new ally return to his organization."_ Raven said with a calm tone, trying to keep himself calm during the battle. _"In fact, we'll put him on the line for you right now."_

A few seconds of science passed until a gruff voice sounded over the comms.

 _"Sierra 117 to UNSC forces do you copy? GDI forces are friendly and in need of assistance."_

Both Miranda and Lasky were taken aback by the voice over the comms. It seems as though yet again his famous luck had held all these years and he was still alive. "Master Chief, good to hear from you again Spartan."

John was taken aback when he had heard Miranda's voice. The last time he had seen her alive was before Truth shot her with his weapon, instantly killing her before Arbiter took his energy sword and stabbed it right through the Prophet's body. _"Commander Keyes? Your alive? You were killed back on Installation 00."_

Miranda smirked, it seems that the Chief was the last one in the galaxy that didn't know she was alive. "You can thank the Forerunners for that Chief, its good to hear you again. Also, its Captain Keyes now soldier."

 _"Congrats on the promotion Ma'am! Also good to hear you again."_ Cortana spoke up.

"Good to hear you as well Cortana." Miranda said to the AI. "So you and Chief are helping this GDI fight the Storm?" No doubt Blue Team and the other Spartan IIs would be relieved to hear the Chief is still alive. Even Dr. Halsey would be glad to see the Chief again and would be able to see how's he has been doing. However, she was concerned that Cortana should be at the age where she should undergo Rampancy. She would be quite dangerous unless Dr. Halsey found a way to care her of it and prevent her from tearing herself apart.

 _"We've been fighting alongside a team of their supersoldiers on the remains of the Dawn. They want to meet with the UNSC to form an alliance with us as they want some assistance in finding the rest of their fleet."_ They then heard gunfire on his end as he shot his rifle at more enemies. _"They've been able to deal with the enemy armada so far, but they're concerned about losses due to them being far from friendly space and about dealing with any more Covenant forces if they run into more of them later."_

 _"He is correct Captain, I don't want to lose anymore men and women under my command if I can so any help would be welcome."_ Raven added in.

Miranda contemplated what to do next. While she was quite concerned about what was going on, she knew that if Chief was helping these people fight the Covenant these humans had good intentions. A part of her was taken aback by the sheer devastation of the Covenant armada, curious on how powerful their weapons are. However, they could help the UNSC further advance their own weapons if they were able exchange military technology. Not only that but they could use the help against the other Covenant Remnants, especially one that Arbiter had told her had been able to win against the Covenant while they were decimating the UNSC. After all as the saying goes, "The enemy of my enemy is my friend."

In that moment, Miranda Keyes had made the biggest decision since the Human-Covenant War.

She turned to Lasky, "Send out all fighters and order all ships to fire MAC rounds at the enemy capital ships. Let's help these new arrivals and bring Chief home."

* * *

 **Sorry guys have to stop here as this chapter is getting way too long.**

 **So yes, much like other Halo stories/crossovers on this site the Forerunners were able to bring the characters who had died that we all cared about from the original trilogy. So yes Miranda Keyes is alive and has replaced Del Rio as Captain of the _Infinity_ (which when you stop to think, will anyone miss that SOB?). Not only that, but Noble Team is back as well along with some the notable Spartan IIIs from the EU. Also Blue Team and Gray team are along for ride as well.**

 **Yeah both Madma and the Didact are serious shit now.**

 **So as you have seen, I've chosen in include more stuff for the UNSC to use. Some are upgraded vehicles inspired by those from other stories (I will list them later as they come up), some are of my own design, some were made by fans who I will give credit for, some vehicles that were cut out of the games(the Cougar and Kodiak APC being those I'll put in), and some from fan made Halo mods (the Artemis-Class Battle cruiser being from the Sins of the Prophets mod). Also have included vehicles that appeared I. Halo Wars 2 to add in more stuff for the UNSC to use.  
**

 **Also, if anyone is wondering why I haven't added in certain vehicles here, don't worry they will appear later in the story. So if there is one that you are wondering about, I'll put it in eventually so relax.**

 **As for the whole GDI able to kick the Covenant around, think of how I've portrayed them.**

 **They've been fighting in space for decades against not just humans, but against aliens that have outnumbered them and whose weapons are devastating, forcing them to adapt and build improved weapons, armor, and shields in order to fight them on an equal footing. Also, no offense to the Pre-War UNSC, but with how quickly GDI advanced in terms technology thanks to the Tacitus to where they were in in C &C3 and C&C4 they maybe ahead of the Pre-War UNSC in several areas (I mean yes when you look at it they should ahead of where they are considering the past few years of advances the military has been undergoing but since Halo came out when it did, no one would have thought about where we are now in terms of weapon tech).**

 **Now as you have seen in this chapter, I've included the Aces from the Ace Combat games among GDI's pilots. I figured to treat Strangereal like a separate planet in another solar system much like ours. Also expect other weapons from AC to be used later in the story, especially the other advanced fighters that they had come with for use in GDI and later the UNSC.**

 **Also, tell me if the battles so far have been believable in terms of space combat and ground combat.**

 **So if anything, they're better prepared then the UNSC was originally and now how fight similar weapons.**

 **Don't worry, they'll have tough fights ahead before they can get reinforcements.**

 **Also, look forward to me including more stuff for GDI based from other games in the coming chapters.**

 **Now the next thing I'll be updating will be Remnant of Flames (promise this time).**

 **See ya!**


	5. Chapter 4: Counterattack

**Alright, time for the next chapter of destruction of the Storm with both humanities now working together.**

* * *

Chapter 4: Counterattack

 **UNSC _Reach_**

As his mighty battleship positioned itself to target an enemy Assault Carrier, Captain Daniel Holloway couldn't help but think about the whole situation the UNSC were in now.

A veteran of the Covenant War, Holloway had commanded a Marathon-Class Heavy Cruiser and had fought under Admiral Preston Jeremiah Cole in the 2530's and 2540's. He had served under the Admiral until the battle of Psi Serpentis were he had been assigned to deal with a small Covenant scouting party. He had managed to trick the Brute commander of that fleet into an ambush that he had managed to set up along with his flotilla of another Marathon cruiser, three Halcyon Light Cruisers, 5 Halberd-Class Destroyers, and 5 Paris-Class Frigates. The Ambush went off successfully and while they had lost 30% of his forces, he was able to destroy the small group of three CCS battlecruisers and five SDV corvettes.

He like many of the survivors of the conflict were now rather pleased that they could now fight with the Covenant Remnant forces more easily in combat due to the advances in the power of MAC cannons, the corporation of Covenant energy shielding, and other advances in military tech. His ship was one of the newer ship classes introduced following the end of the Human-Covenant War in order to bring the UNSC up a level of power that far outclassed it's Pre-War forces.

The Reach was the first true ship in the UNSC that could be called a battleship based on its large size compared to other ships along with the large amount of weapons and armor that it came with. It was among the 14 built so far and the Covenant had come to fear the ship's power as it was able to easily destroy a Covenant Assault Carrier in a one on one battle with such ease, that the Carrier's escorts were destroyed mere minutes after the loss of the Capital ship.

"MAC rounds up to 80% and charging Captain." One of the officers said aloud.

"Ready to fire Archer missiles once Captain Keyes gives the word to open fire. Tell all fighters to launch and arm the Longswords with the Mini MACs." Holloway spoke out.

"Aye sir." The communications officer responded.

Holloway looked outside the viewing screen to see the massive amount of Covenant ships that were now floating scrap metal. He had to admit, whoever these GDI people were, this was something that the Veteran could have only wished and dreamed about during the war. The scans his people were able to get were that hundreds of the Storm's ships were in fact disabled and floating without power along with hundreds more damaged and still the process of getting pounded with dozens more missiles impacting and either destroying them or damaging them further. Blue energy beams, dark blue pulses, and glowing blue-white streaks flew from GDI ships into the Storm ships, destroying dozens more ships before they could fire another volley of Plasma lances as dozens of lasers shot out and intercepted incoming Plasma Torpedoes by the dozen.

 _'Damn, these people really are quite powerful. Seems like the spooks at ONI may want to watch out, especially Osman.'_ Holloway thought.

 _"Attention all ships,"_ the voice of Miranda Keyes soon filtered from the ship's speakers. _"Once I give the order, launch Archer missiles point five seconds following MAC firing. Our new friends have a plan up their sleeves from what their commander has said to me. I want weapons fire focused on several of the disabled ships along with the ships that GDI forces have marked. Sending the data now to all ships."_

"Data received Captain." One of the officers says aloud. "Dozens of enemy capital ships with functioning shields have been targeted.

However, much to the surprise of the UNSC fleet, several black portals opened up next to them with a small group of GDI ships coming out in formation. They were made up of 2 Cruisers, 4 Destroyers, and 6 Frigates. The UNSC officers wondered what the ships were doing there until Miranda soon spoke back up.

 _"All ships, the GDI group that just appeared is to help soften up the targets for us to engage. Do not consider them to be enemies as they'll basically be giving us an opening."_

Holloway put his hand to his chin as he couldn't help but wonder what such a small group could do in order to assist the UNSC Fleet.

 _"Attention all UNSC ships,"_ An unfamiliar voice sounded out, _"this is Captain Robert Shaw of the GDS Hoplite. Allow us to help you folks make your shots count. Engage at will following Crossbow strike."_

Holloway wondered what he meant by Crossbow strike when he then soon saw streams of dozens of missiles fly from the ships. He couldn't help but wonder how they still had that many munitions if they've been fighting against the Covenant for who knows how long. The Covenant ships being targeted soon opened fire with their point defense weapons, purple plasma bolts shooting across space at the incoming missiles. However, the missiles soon wobbled around dodging a number of incoming shots as very few missiles were getting destroyed by the incoming fire. The missiles soon impacted the shields of the few dozen ships they targeted, however much to the surprise of the UNSC Captains, the shields were quickly brought down as more missiles impacted. Soon all of the weapons fire from the ships dies down as they began to drift from their original station.

 _"That would be our cue, all ships open fire!"_ Miranda yelled over the comms

Holloway turned to the bridge crew and said, "You heard the lady, fire MAC one at the Assault Carrier in front of us then target the three Battleships. Fire Archer pods 1 through 8 at the surrounding ships!"

The battleship soon positioned itself with its bow facing towards the enemy ship as its MAC cannons were fully charged. The ship then shook as it fired its first round along with 96 other MAC cannons from the fleet. The yellow streaks shot across space at .02 the speed of light until they impacted the disabled ships. The 600 ton slugs from the smaller ships along with the 900 ton slugs from the Cruisers, Battlecruisers, and Battleships slammed into the Covenant ships with enough power to completely tear them apart or smash them into pieces. The _Infinity's_ Super MACs easily blasted apart the Four Assault Carriers they targeted.

A few seconds before the slugs impacted, hundreds to thousands of Archer missiles flew from the ships towards the enemy ships. They targeted the ships that were disabled before by GDI prior to the UNSC's arrival, simply floating in the blackness of the void and were either damaged or still in tact. The newer Archer missiles that the _Infinity's_ battlegroup now possessed fusion warheads that allowed them to strike with half the explosive force of the Nuclear bomb that was dropped on Hiroshima, the explosive force being enough for a couple of missiles to take out the smaller Covenant ships easily.

Soon hundreds more Covenant ships joined the over thirteen hundred ships that GDI had already wasted as the Storm now realized that their position was now becoming less and less secure.

* * *

 **UNSC _Infinity_**

 _'Damn, what ever these GDI people sent at the ships we were to target definitely made our job easier.'_ Miranda thought to herself.

As she looked on, the battered but still strong GDI fleet was still holding its own as another volley of missiles flew from the ships along with streaks of their secondary weapons tearing up any nearby ships that were either still operating or disabled along with their impressive forward armaments. dozens more Covenant ships were soon turned into scrap as the beams of Ion energy, ionized slugs, and antimatter pulses hit the enemy ships. The scans that Roland did of the ships had yielded information on the weapons that the ships were using in battle. The UNSC wasn't able to develop the antimatter and ion weapons prior to the Human-Covenant War and while they were able to create EMP weapons, they weren't able to make them in enough numbers that would have made an effect in the war.

If anything, GDI's weapons were far more advanced then the UNSC in some areas. She couldn't help but wonder how they were able to develop them so the point they are at in terms of technology. Not only that, but the shields of the ships seemed to be made of greatly condensed antimatter which was capable of surpassing the best in Covenant shield tech.

"Roland, what were those missiles that the GDI ships just fired?" Lasky spoke aloud to the AI.

"Already ahead of you commander." Roland said as he brought up images of the missiles via the images he was able to get. "Cortana was able to send us images of the missiles she was able to get from the GDI Commandos." The images soon appeared on the holo-table as the duo looked at the weapon system. They were immediately surprised by the look of the missiles.

"Are those SM-3 IIA missiles?" Lasky said in a questionable tone. It was commonplace in some UNSC academies for their to be lessons on the weapons of war and where they the current weapons they had in service came from originally. Therefore, learning about weapons from the 20th and 21st Centuries were part of those lessons in order to better understand the advances since then. Although, seeing old weapons from the past being used by a faction that must be on par if not somewhat above them in terms of technology was a little strange in the commander's mind.

 _"Yes ma'am,"_ Cortana said over the comms, _"Apparently, GDI had chosen to bring back some old weapons and made them into viable options for modern warfare. I don't know the full story, however they seemed that they wanted to throw a very effective curveball against the enemy forces they were facing."_

 _'Well it's a unique curveball to say the least.'_ Miranda thought to herself.

"They call it the weapon the CHAMP-100 Crossbow missile. CHAMP referring to the Counter-electronics High Power Microwave Advanced Missile Project the US had developed in the 21st Century." Roland said. "It seems as though this GDI is ahead of us in some areas of weaponry since the EMP warhead is powerful enough to bring down the systems of Pre-War ships easily and could still effect our newer ships well enough that we would need to pull any restrictions into getting the subsystems back on online as soon as possible. As for the Covenant... well I think the large number of disabled ships that are being torn apart out there without them being able to fire back at them speaks for how effective they are against them."

Lasky then spoke up, "No kidding, I think these GDI people would probably be the ones we would want to avoid fighting compared to the Covenant."

Miranda simply nodded at the comment.

"Ma'am, all fighter wings assigned to attack are now engaging the the Covenant fighters." Another of the _Infinity's_ bridge crew spoke up.

"Well they'll have a hell of a time dodging all that debris, GDI must have wiped out thousands of enemy fighters along with the hundreds of ships we're seeing." Roland spoke up as he changed the display to where the two commanders could see the blue colored UNSC fighters engaging with Covenant Fighters as more GDI planes (which were colored green) were coming into the furball to assist the UNSC fighters in combat.

"Well we'll leave things to them to deal with the fighters, we need to get back to destroying their remaining ships." Miranda said as she soon looked back outside as the ship shook again from firing off its Super MACs into the enemy force along with over hundred more slugs due to the UNSC ships being able to fire multiple rounds in a single charge.

* * *

 **Back on the _Dawn_**

"INCOMING!"

Jackal's warning came just in time as a group of four Hunters unleashed several Fuel Rod rounds against the team of super soldiers. Using their improved abilities, Chief and the Centurions were able to avoid the incoming rounds as they took cover when they had gotten outside on the platform.

"I'm sorry, did I miss a Forerunner Planet at some point?" Cortana questioned.

"One thing at a time." Chief said with a bit of humor in his voice.

Havoc soon slid into cover as he then fired a burst at a Jackal that was firing a Plasma Repeater at him. The rounds tore the alien's hand off as his shield went down before the Centurion fired a burst into its head killing it. A few Grunts started to return fire with their Plasma pistols but one quickly went down as Jaeger put two of them down with her GD-17A1 DMR. The remaining three in the group of Grunts started to flee, but were blown up via Jackal's Grenade Launcher as he shot an HE round down range.

Ursa then stood up as he fired a missile at a group of Elites that were pinning down Castor and Kaze with all four of them duel wielding Plasma Repeaters. The EMP missile impacted next to the group as their shields dropped to their surprise along with their weapons malfunctioning. The momentary rest soon allowed Kaze and Castor to quickly fire upon the unshielded Sangheili as hypersonic slugs and green plasma blots cut through their armor and left several holes on their bodies as they fell to the ground.

"Kill the accursed demons! Don't let them escape!" A Sangheili yelled as a few more Phantoms appeared with reinforcements.

Jaeger then brought out her GLS-110 and fired a 14.5mm slug at an Elite that was about to leap off of the dropship, hitting her target in the head as it easily brought down its shields and the impact caused its head to explode. "How many more incoming dropships?" she spoke over the radio.

"At least four more." Jackel responded as he fired another grenade at a Hunter, damaging its armor as Ursa fired a cluster missile at a group of suicidal Grunts, causing a large chain reaction of explosions which took them all out. Chief soon launched his own grenade at two Jackels armed with Covenant Carbines that were targeting Kaze as he kept firing with his pistols as he provided a distraction for the Hunters.

"Havoc how much longer until the gunships arrive?" John questioned as he pulled the pin out of a frag grenade before throwing it at an Elite Zealot who was trying to charge at Ursa.

"Anvil 1 this is Praetorian lead, where are you? We could really use some fire support down here!" Havoc spoke into his comms. It wasn't that the supersoldiers weren't capable enough to deal with the large number of Covenant ships by themselves, but their concern was running out of ammo. Sure they could start using the weapons that the Covenant soldiers were dropping (in fact Chief told them before they got outside to take the Plasma grenades as he said they could stick to their targets if they connected with them), and they had been trained to use foreign weapons before during their years as Commandos. However, even they didn't want to tempt fate as while their personal energy shields could hold up to a minute of enemy fire, there was always the chance of a lucky hit or blow coming at them from out of nowhere. Havoc then tossed another frag grenade into a group of Grunts, turning them into bloody blue gore.

Kaze continued to dodge the incoming plasma shots as he kept fired with his pistols as he closed with two Elites that were charging at him with their energy swords. He then drew his own sword as he stepped onto a barrier and jumped into the air. He then did a front flip as he brought his sword down on the closest Elite, the force of the impact causing the alien to take a staggered step back. Both warriors then pushed off teach other as the other Elite thrust his sword forward to try and catch Kaze while he was trying to get his footing. Kaze however was faster and as he landed, he quickly got into a stance as blocked the incoming attack. He then began to block the incoming attacks as the Japanese supersoldier used every bit of his combat experience in order to deal with the two Zealots.

Castor then shot a blast of lightning at another Elite, bringing down its shields quickly as she poured more power into her attack. The Elite screamed in agony before its was burned to a crisp, its charred corpse falling towards the ground as Jackal then fired a burst shot from his GD-15 at a Hunter. The large alien's armor was damaged by the powerful blast as Ursa soon jumped out of cover as he drew out his fusion battleaxe as he boosted up with his jetpack. He then boosted down as he brought the weapon down on the damaged shield arm. The weapon cut through the damaged armor and severed the Hunters arm as its blood sprayed everywhere. Ursa then followed up with a punch to its helmet which due to the Mk 3Z ICS's powerful exoskeleton allowed caused the Hunter to stagger back from the force of the impact.

"Take this!" Ursa yelled as he swung his battleaxe through the Hunter's neck before it could bring up it's Fuel Rod Cannon to shoot him. The head began to fell but then Ursa caught it and threw it at a nearby Grunt who was trying to charge at him with two live Plasma grenades. The impact caused him to fall along with his grenades and just a second later, they exploded. He then used his jetpack to boost away from the fight as he took out his Gatling gun and fired on a nearby group of Jackals, keeping the aliens pinned for Jackal to fire another grenade at them from his M640 grenade launcher.

Soon, the sounds of high power fusion engines sounded in the area around the battle.

6 Orca gunships appeared around the area as the Covenant Phantoms tried to position themselves to take out the human aircraft. The Orcas turned their 50mm Gatling guns at the enemy dropships and let loose a barrage of HEIAP rounds. Said rounds allowing for the 50mm shells to hit like 75mm rounds which caused explosions to pepper the Phantoms as their armor and structure began to be decimated. The Orca gunships also added their side mounted Ion cannons into the fray, the blue beams blowing through the enemy craft like a bullet through tissue paper.

 _"Praetorian Lead, this is Anvil 1 sorry for keeping you hanging."_ A male voice sounded over Havoc's comms.

"Nice timing Anvil 1." Havoc said with a smile on his face. "Give these bastards a real rain of lead!"

 _"Copy that."_ Anvil 1 responded. _"All units, engage all targets of opportunity."_

Two of the gunships had 4 80mm rocket pods which they aimed at the enemies below them as their shields held against the retaliatory fire from the Storm soldiers. The rockets fired out in stream fire much like the old Soviet attack helicopters would have, creating a stream of fire. The HE warheads of the rockets soon caused repeated explosions as the Aliens were incinerated, blown to nothing, or torn apart as Grunts, Jackals, and Elites were being blown away. The Hunters faired little better as their armor could only hold out against the merciless fire so long as Centurions threw their Plasma grenades along with Jackal, Havoc, and Castor firing off Rifle Grenades at any weak spots that appeared on their armor.

One of the Orcas then fired a Hellfire X AT missile at one of the Hunters as the gunship flew out of the way of several Fuel Rod shots. The missile designed to damage the powerful Avatar mechs of Neo Nod and the Scrin Assault Tripods was easily able to blow the Hunter into a million pieces. Three more Phantoms arrived from the nearby Covenant ship but were targeted by three Orcas armed with the AIM-140 Hawk missiles. The Phantoms opened fire with all of their weapons in order to shoot down the incoming weapons, however some were able to get through and nailed the dropships. Two exploded due to taking too many missiles and third one soon spun out of control and crashed on the wreckage of the _Dawn_ which killed several more aliens.

"Chief, now's our chance!" Cortana yelled as John took of at a full sprint. Havoc, seeing the Spartan move quickly, nodded towards Kaze and Jackal as three soon followed along with their leader as the other three kept the enemies pinned down or took them out. Another Hunter tried to fire on Jaeger with it's Fuel Rod Cannon, but Castor then used her telekinesis to stop the rounds in mid-air and tossed them at two Elites that were taking cover. In order to try and make sure that they would go down, Castor angled her shot more then usual and the shots soared over the Elite's heads and impacted two feet behind them. While they didn't get any serious injuries, their shields were drained, which allowed Jackal to use his GD-15's pulse mode to overwhelm the remaining energy they had and killed them with accurate shots to the valuable areas of their armor.

Havoc soon switched his GD-14 to its MLRS mode as he took aim at three Jackals that were shooting at the four with their Covenant Carbines. Six missiles flew from his weapon, going up into the air as they then turned and came screaming down at the aliens. They were forced to bring up their shields to block the missiles which worked, however that allowed Kaze to toss an EMP grenade at the group of Jackals before they could try and shoot at it or throw it away. The grenade went off and disabled both their weapons and shields, allowing Chief to fire a burst of 7.62mm rounds into their heads, killing them quickly.

Chief soon reached the control console as he then enter the codes needed and finally pulled the lever, opening the doors of the missile silo. The M4093 Hyperion nuclear missile soon flew from the ship and flew at the Covenant ship nearby. While it would have had its shields up already, it head lost them due to an earlier EMP missile strike from GDI along with most of its point defense systems.

The missile flew into the ship and a large explosion tore the alien ship apart.

"Nice work Chief." Havoc said as he switch his weapons back to its Railgun Assault Rifle mode and loaded a new magazine. "The Narwhal should be coming in two mikes, the rest of the Orcas are dealing with anymore dropships that come close."

"Good to hear." Chief replied.

"Hey Havoc, any idea on how we could help bring this battle to close sooner?" Jackal questioned as he put his weapon on his shoulder. "Is there a ship we could get into to and use it against the Covenant?"

Havoc wondered about that line of thought until Cortana spoke up.

"I may have an idea." The AI chirped. "I was able to trace the communication lines that Admiral Raven had with the Elite along with diving into their battlenet. The leader of this force is a Sangheili named Jul'Madma and his ship is actually a CAS Assault Carrier."

Logan then spoke up. "A shame he wasn't in one of the massive ships we destroyed, but thankfully or un-thankfully depending on your view of things his ship is still intact. I was able to help Cortana in pinpointing his ship. Of course, we would be running the gambit of enemy fighters but since the UNSC are here our chances of getting there is pretty good as long as our escorts due their job right."

Havoc then turned to Chief, "Your call Chief, these are the guys you've dealt with."

Chief thought about the current events going on in order to see if it would be possible to proceed with such an operation. With the UNSC now helping out with both their ships and fighters assisting GDI, it could be possible to take the ship if the fighters could keep any Covenant fighters off their transport. Still, the main issue was in terms of dealing with the vast number of Covenant soldiers on the ship that would no doubt stop them from trying to capture their leader.

He then turned to Havoc, "How many soldiers could GDI spare?"

"My guess, Commander Masters could send the other Centurion Fireteams under his command along with a few Platoons of Legionary Commandos in case we need the extra muscle. I'll see what I can do to get us some fighter cover." Havoc then switched to his communication line with the _Olympus_ as the large Narwhal transport had arrived with the remaining Orca gunships which also had four V-65 Typhoon gunships along with them.

"H-H-Hopefully we'll be able to get this don-e-e-e." Cortana spoke up, her voice breaking up.

"Cortana?" John asked with some concern in his voice.

"It's fine Chief." The AI said while lying to her partner.

Logan however, noticed that Cortana was not alright. As she helped him lock on to the communications that the Covenant leader had used to communicate with Admiral Raven, her voice had broken up a few times and she had been going slower then she usually did from what he had seen before. He knew that those symptoms were due to her suffering through rampancy. Logan was among GDI's latest fourth-generation AI able to stay functional for 100 years but could be able to stay effective via current technologies which allowed them to improve and fix their coding to remove any rampant codes in their systems.

He knew when Chief was brought on broad the _Olympus,_ he would have to ask the Spartan to allow GDI to help fix the UNSC AI. While Chief could argue against it, he could push for it on the moral fact that unless Chief wanted his partner to disappear, he would need to do it for her sake. While Chief didn't seem emotional on the outside, he guessed correctly that the Spartan did truly care for her like she was his best friend.

"Chief, I just got word from the Commander." Havoc said as he turned to the Spartan. "He has gotten the Centurion fireteams assembled and their heading for their dropships. The Covenant fighters are dropping quickly so given several more minutes, we will be in the clear to approach the ship. Not only that, but the Covenant are starting to break, some of their ships are pulling away from the fight so we won't have to worry about any ships defending Madma."

"Good work Captain." John said. "Cortana, patch me to the _Infinity._ "

"Roger that." Cortana said as she connected to the UNSC Flagship.

"Infinity, this is Sierra 117."

 _"We hear you loud and clear Chief, what do you need?"_ Miranda said on the other line.

"We've acquired that Madma's ship is disabled and he could still be alive. I've spoken with GDI and we'll be launching an assault to capture him. Are there any assets you can spare to assist us in the mission?"

 _"Well good thing I brought a ton of Spartan muscle on this ship."_ Miranda says "I _have your old team on-board the Infinity alongside Gray team. Plus I also have Noble Team and the new Hunter Team."_

"Copy that last one Captain, did you say Noble Team?" John questioned.

 _"Yeah, I wasn't the only one that was in the Forerunner base. All five members of Noble Team that were killed on Reach were there as well. Commander Jun was quite surprised to see his old team back from the dead. As for Hunter Team, I pulled them together from various survivors from Alpha and Beta Companies and have them on standby along with helping the Spartan-IVs get into shape."_

John was surprised yet again to find out the one team responsible for him and Cortana being teamed up in the first place. He knew of the one Spartan that had also been listed as Hyper-Lethal, Arron-B312 aka Noble Six and he knew that his Spartan II brother Jorge-052 had also been assigned to the Team well before the Battle of Reach. However, the both of them along with their Commander Carter-A259, tech specialist Catherine-B320 or better known as Kat, and close combat specialist Emile-A-239 had been killed when the Covenant had found the planet that was the main stronghold and base of the UNSC. To hear that they were alive again and ready for combat had impressed John.

"What about the Spartan IVs you were talking about?" Chief asked.

 _"They're the newest iteration of the Spartan Program. After the Human-Covenant War, it was decided to create the next generation of supersoldiers in order to fight any future wars. The IV program is made up of volunteers from other branches of the UNSC who undergo the augmentations and training needed to earn their armor. Not to say that I'm against the program for allowing those that have what it takes to become Spartans and were inspired by those like you to join the program. However, the vast majority sort of need a kick in the ass in order to set them straight, so I figured the more experienced Spartans we had the better they could get themselves into shape."_

John was concerned about what Captain Keyes had told him. From the looks of it, the Spartan IVs didn't seem to have the same level of focus and that he, the other IIs and the IIIs had. The idea of volunteers who had chosen to become Spartans without the same level of training and indoctrination as they had were liable to make mistakes on the battlefield, mistakes that could dead up causing casualties among fellow soldiers. HE could only hope that the new Spartans could focus on the task at hand and that GDI's forces could help the force move along.

"Understood Captain, send Gray, Noble, Blue, and Hunter teams along with any Spartan IV fireteams that can be assembled. Sending coordinates of Madma's ship for the RZ." John said.

 _"Copy that Chief, happy hunting and good luck. Infinity out."_ Miranda said as she cut the transmission.

John then turned to Havoc, "What are GDI sparing for escorts?"

HAvoc had the faintest hint of a smirk under his helmet. "Since the numbers of enemy fighters are dropping thanks to our fighters and ships destroying thousands of them before your people showed up and with how many more are being destroyed at a faster rate, Commander Masters has told a few select squadrons to be our escorts. Key among them once most of the airspace is cleared, is none other then Razgriz Squadron."

* * *

 **5 minutes later**

 **Triarii Squadron**

 **Lt. Andrew "Fireball" Mason**

If one was to describe the feeling one got when they piloted the new Katana fighter, it would be the type of rush one got when diving from thousands of feet in the air and falling toward the ground at terminal velocity. However, it was more like that feeling but going at hypersonic speeds.

The sleek and powerful UNSC fighter blasted through space at incredible speeds as the 28 year old went to search for his first target. All around him, he could see his fellow fighters speed around him, firing missiles at the ever decreasing mass of enemy fighters as more Seraphs and Banshee Interceptors were being destroyed. He could also see the hundreds of what he could only assume were the fighters that GDI had been using. They definitely looked advanced and from the amount of missiles they were firing must have several weapons that could fire multiple mini-missiles at the enemy fighters.

 _'The tech heads had been developing a similar weapon system from what Johnny told me a couple of days ago. Seems like these GDI folk are a few steps ahead of us in that sense.'_

He then saw a squadron of Seraph fighters pass in front of him who were turning to meet a group of Sabre fighters. Fireball moved his fighter into position as he used the thrust vector tech on his fighters large engines to tighten his turn as he pointed his nose at the enemy fighters. His HUD then began to mark the Seraphs as it locked onto them as his fighter's M6088 ST/MMP missile pods opened up. He then pressed down the button on his joystick as four missiles flew out. They screamed towards the Covenant fighters as they tried to turn away from the incoming missiles. However, three of the missiles impacted and took out their assigned targets, with the last one luckily turning around a large piece of wreckage from a CCS Battlecrusier as the missile turned and blow up on the piece of debris.

Andrew growled as he then pitched his fighter to follow the remaining enemy fighter. The enemy pilot soon went into different maneuvers as the Sangheili pilot tried to throw the human pilot of his tail. However, the Kanata's impressive turning abilities was easily able to keep up as he closed into gun range. The enemy fighter soon tried to preform something along the lines of a split-S as they turned downward in order to escape as well as attack a nearby Longsword who was engaging a group of three Banshee Interceptors.

However, Fireball was able to pull of his own split-S and slid his gunsight onto the enemy fighter. Twin streams of hypervelocity tungsten slugs flew from his forward weapons as they impacted the Seraph shields. Eventually, the shields were depleted and the alien fighter soon turned into a fireball. Soon it spun out of control as it crashed into another large piece of debris.

"Got it! Splash four bogies." Fireball said over the comms.

 _"Triarii 4, keep your head on a swivel. We still have multiple bogies in the area."_ His squad leader Triarii 1 reported.

"Roger that squadron lead, searching for new targets." Fireball said as he turned back into the fray.

He saw more and more Covenant ships get taken out as blue beams and yellow tungsten slugs flew through space at incredible speeds along with thousands of missiles from both groups flew behind them. Soon enough, the targeted ships were either losing their shields or being destroyed out right as the number of Covenant Capital ships dropped even more to were their were only around one hundred and fifty. At this point, more then two-thirds of the Covenant Armada was soon floating in space in pieces or completely destroyed, with some of the ships captained by Unggoy being among the first to start fleeing as more and more jumped into Slipspace.

A nearby CAS Assault Carrier was blown up a strike group of 8 Paladins firing their heavy laser cannons at a vulnerable point that had been opened up by fire from a now retreating Praetorian-Class Cruiser's railguns. The weakpoint in the critical area of the ship where their energy source was at which allowed the group to focus fire on it, causing a chain reaction that destroyed the ship. Several bodies of Covenant soldiers flew out in front of Fireball's screen, an Elite almost hitting him as it passed only a few feet in front of him as he was closing.

Mini MAC equipped Longswords soon fell upon a nearby CCS Battlecruiser

The UNSC pilot then spotted a group of six Banshee Interceptors flying low at 10 o'clock. Fireball then rolls inverted and dives to get behind the force of enemy fighters. His HUD locks onto them as his missile pods prepared to fire.

However, he then saw multiple green bolts of plasma surround him as 12 more Seraphs were firing on him from behind, his shields managing to block a number of them as it was at a little over half strength. Scoffing at this, he quickly fired off his missiles then preformed a barrel roll in order to get behind the enemy fighters that were closing in on him. He greatly decreased his speed as he pitched up and began his maneuver, the Seraph fighters too focused on killing him to realize what he was doing for a few precious seconds.

Four of the Seraph fighters then blew up as four ASGM-10 missiles fired from a nearby Longsword took out the four trailing behind the group the most. Fireball then fell into position as his HUD began to lock on to the remaining eight fighters with his missile pods. During that, he was able to slide one of the fighters into his gunsight and fired a burst, quickly taking out the alien fighter as he moved on to the next one. The other Seraphs soon began to break their formation in order to avoid the missiles that would be heading towards them from the UNSC fighter. However, Fireball had already got the locks his needed as he fired the missiles. However, one of the fighters was able to avoid the missile that was tracking him as he then turned to attack a nearby Broadsword that was attacking a pair of Banshees.

The enemy fighter was able to get behind the friendly fighter and was about to fire its Fuel Rod Cannon, but was then fired upon by a GDI Stormhawk.

Fireball looked to his right and saw the predatory fighter fly alongside him. He had to admit, the GDI fighters looked like planes that would have been designed in the 21st Century but were more advanced then that. From his scanners, he could tell that while they weren't full on stealth fighters, their RCS was very small, no doubt showing that GDI must use advanced stealth materials in their planes. The look of the wings reminded him of the 21st Century Russian Su-47 Berkut fighter, except with the wings further back. He had heard it gave planes like the Su-47 great maneuverability especially for high angles of attack. He then looked to see the image on the plane's body, the white skinned man with red hair wearing a winged helmet.

And on the tail wings, were hundreds of marks, no doubts kills that the pilot had made over the course of his carrer.

 _"This is Razgriz 1 to UNSC fighter, sorry about taking your kill."_ A male voice sounded over Fireball's comms.

"Triarii 4 to Razgriz 1, don't sweat it. Thanks for saving my fellow pilot's neck out there." Andrew responded.

 _"No problem then, looks like the Covenant swarm is thinning out. Might want to hurry if you want to have plenty of kills under your belt."_

Andrew smirked under his helmet, it seems this GDI ace was a nice guy from what he could tell. "Roger that Razgriz, thanks for the assist. Good luck on your end."

 _"Wilco. Happy hunting."_ Razgriz 1 spoke back.

Fireball then banked his fighter to the left as he then flew off in search of more enemies to kill.

* * *

 **Razgriz Squadron**

 _"Is that a Falken they're flying?"_ Tailsman said over the radio

Blaze had to agree with his Emmerian wingman, the UNSC fighter that they had seen next to them did in fact have several similarities to the advanced fighter that had been seen in various conflicts since the First Usean Continental War. While he had seen the fighter in gun camera footage released about the famed dogfight made by Phoenix of Scarface Squadron who had faced a fighter that was known simply as Z.O.E. during the final decisive battle of the war. They had similar looking engine pods, a sleek needle like front, and had canard wings along the nose for improved handling performance.

 _"Man, someone's ass is going to be sued for copyright infringement."_ Cipher spoke up. He did wince a little at remembering the fighter that was the predecessor of the Falken, the ADFX-02 Morgan when he had fought with his old wingman Larry Falke, better known as Solo Wing Pixy when he had attempted his plan on using the Nuke he had launched in order to complete the mission of the terrorist group, A World with No Boundaries. He did encounter his old wingman several years after the war and after decking him in the face for the damn stunt he pulled, he was back to flying along with him again. After GDI showed up to Strangereal, Pixy had been evaluated in order to make sure he didn't defect to the Neo Brotherhood when the war with them had formally begun. He had been given a chance when Neo Nod had launched an assault on Strangereal itself and was allowed to fly a place under the watch of the other Aces and himself. After the battle and earning the trust of a key officers, Pixy was allowed to fly in GDI but had to be kept under watch for a couple more years until he was given full freedom to fight again.

After all, if you had someone that fought under a terrorist organization, you had someone that could think along their lines. That made him effective in seeing through a couple of Neo Nod's plans when he was a double agent for GDI and ruined a surprise attack that would have damaged Oured, Osea's capital city during the Strangereal Campaign.

 _"Let's leave that to the business folks back home once this is over."_ Nemesis spoke up.

"Nemesis is right, we can save that for when we meet the UNSC face to face. We need to get the Centurions and Legionaries to the disabled enemy ship." Blaze spoke back.

All five members of the squad soon formed back up as they approached a group GDI dropships heading for the crippled Assault Carrier. Due to the decreasing number of enemy fighters due to both GDI burst missile strikes and the combined forces of both military organizations, their were less and less fighters in the area. The fighter cover for the GDI dropships were 16 Stormhawks, 18 Phoenixs, and 16 Eagles covering the 8 A-50 Orca dropships, 8 Orca gunships, and 6 Typhoon gunskips and the Narwhal that had Chief and Praetorian inside.

While some Seraphs and Banshee Interceptors had gotten close, the heavy fighter escort where able to drive them off or destroy their formations. Not only that, but any loose shots that were fired off where avoided or blocked due to the energy shields carried on the transports. Not only that, but the gunships also shot down any regular Banshee that tried to speed into the transport.

 _"More bogeys incoming!"_ Nemesis sounded over the comms.

The five aces looked to see several more Seraph fighters incoming, no doubt desperate to shoot down the transports. The aces then sped forward, fire ODMM and ADMM missiles once they had achieved lock. The missiles soared off towards their targets as the Covenant fighters began to fire at the missiles with their plasma weapons while also pulling rapid maneuvers in order to try and survive the wall of missiles coming at them. Unfortunately, their efforts were for not as most of the force was destroyed as eight fighters remained. Two Phoenix interceptors then broke off and quickly flew behind the enemy fighters and shot them down with their guns.

 _"The first of many if they catch onto our plan."_ Cipher said to his squadmates.

Blaze couldn't help but agree, hoping that they could get all of the Dropships to the disabled ship safely.

* * *

 **With Chief and Fireteam Praetorian**

Inside the Narwhal, Chief and the Centurions were shook around as explosions sounded around the group of transports.

"Sounds like the Covenant are still putting up a fight." Ursa said aloud.

"The commander called in saying that several dozen ships have already fled the battlefield. The number should be less then 600 with a good part of that number being incapable of action. This battle looks to be as good as done." Havoc spoke up. Thankfully, GDI had only lost two more frigates and had several of their Light Dreadnoughts and Battlecruisers badly damaged but still salvageable. Not only that, but operations were now going out to collect the escape pods to rescue crew mates from the destroyed ships. Thankfully, Raven's order to have all GDI personnel already wearing their spacesuits helped to keep deaths low.

 _'Of course we'll still need to use THAT in case any have died.'_ The Centurion thought to himself.

"How much further until we reach the Assault Carrier?" John said to the GDI supersoldiers.

"Should be a few more mikes." Havoc said as another explosion rocked the transport. "Of course since ours is the biggest and slowest target, we're being forced to move at the pace this thing is able to get to."

"Unfortunate that we don't have any weapons on this thing to defend ourselves with." Jaeger said.

"Well not completely," Castor said as she turned to Havoc. "Still got any missiles left for your GD-14?"

"Yeah." Havoc said as he nodded. "About 18 more, you?"

"30, didn't need to waste them due to my powers. Shall we?" Castor says as she walks to the right door of the transport.

Havoc walks over to the other door and opens it up. He then looks over to Chief as his weapon switched to his weapons MLRS mode. "Don't worry Chief, we're just giving ourselves a better chance here."

Both Centurions soon got out of the transport as their suits activated their magnets on their boots as they stepped onto the outside of the Narwhal. Ten Seraphs soon got through the fighter cover as they found themselves under fire them the gunships escorting the transports as the forward Gatling guns and autocannons blast that the enemy fighters that were flying around them. Six of them were taken out by the gunfire as the Seraphs were know only firing potshots with their Fuel Rod Cannons which were avoided by the nimbler dropships as the Centurion and Legionary Commandos began to fire back at the Covenant fighters with their M5 Gatling guns or those armed with the Javelin missile launchers firing their fire-and-forget missiles as their launchers had gotten lock-ons. Only two of the Fighters were able to get out of the surprising return fire with only one of the dropships taking sizable damage (but still flyable) and another almost having its shields drained. However, as they passed the Narwhal, both Havoc and Castor fired their MLRS's at the fighters as they came close enough for the Covenant pilots to not notice the incoming munitions until it was too late.

The missiles quickly brought down the fighter's shield's and eventually caused them to explode.

They soon reloaded, ready for any other fighter to come into range.

Two Seraph soon flew through the swarm of GDI aircraft as more of its fellow Seraphs and Banshees were quickly taken out by the human fighters. However, Castor and Havoc were able to easily fellow the enemy fighters as their weapons locked onto the fighters as they flew close to the Narwhal and started to fire at the heavy transport. Their twelve mini-missiles fired at the enemy fighters as they were soon turned into fireballs.

Soon more GDI fighters joined the current group of fighters along with four more A-50 dropships which from where the two Centurions could see were several large boxes that were under the wings and from their scanners, had even more inside the ships in their cargo bays.

"Are those?" Castor started to say as Havoc finished for her.

"Yep, looks like Cole wanted to send us plenty of firepower in order to storm this ship." Havoc said with a smirk under his helmet. He then looked around to see that no more enemy fighters were coming close to their formation, the closest enemies being a mile away as they turned with UNSC fighters in close range dogfights. "Well looks like our job is done, let's head in back in."

* * *

 **Five minutes later...**

The Transports had arrived near an opening that was caused by a Harpoon missile impacting the ship which blew a massive hole close to the cargo bay. The Orca dropships got in first, with the damaged dropship having a rougher landing then the other transports. The Centurions that were inside the damaged transport soon got out as they brought the injured pilot out of the transport. The other dropships soon landed as well as both Centurions and Legionary Commandos stepped off onto the ship. Chief and Praetorian were the last ones to step off of their dropship as the Commandos treated the injured pilot.

Chief looked around to see that the difference between both groups of Commandos were that the Legionaries were a couple inches shorter then the IIIs along with them having the famed Imperial Gallic helmet worn by the ancient Legionaries of the ancient Roman Empire. Other then that, they had the same armor but with different helmet designs and what looked to be a few different armor sets. The weapons they had from what he could tell had some weapons that resembled firearms from the 21st Century such as GDI's LMG and GPMG looking similar to the US LSAT Light Machine Gun and the Lightweight Medium Machine Gun. He could also see that the MGs were versions that fired tungsten slugs with the magazines being larger than using regular bullets.

They also had some of the same weapons that Praetorian used along with others that he had never seen before.

"Havoc, nice to see you're still in one piece." A Centurion Commando then walked up to Havoc. He had two circular glass pieces on his helmet, giving it a skull like look to it along three marks on the helmet that is around where the mouth would be. He had in his arms a GD-14 with an AA-24 on his back along with a high frequency greatsword in its scabbard on his back. He also had six of GDI's special homing disks and 6 EMP grenades on his waist along with 2 Nighthawk pistols. His final weapons were high frequency Bolo knives, no about showing him to be a close combat specialist.

"Raider, looks like you had a rough landing." Havoc said as the two shook each others hand.

"Well, still alive and kicking." The commando known now as Ghost said. He then looks toward the Spartan and he is impressed with the UNSC soldier. "You must be Master Chief, Commander Masters mentioned that you basically like us but bigger."

"You are?" John simply replied.

The Centurion salutes to the legendary supersoldier. "Raider, Captain of the Centurion Commandos and leader of Fireteam Reaper. I've know Havoc and Praetorian since Boot Camp." He then points behind him, "That's my team speaking with Sorceress, the main commander of Fireteam Mystic." He pointed to the one lone Commando among the group that had a single green visor like that of a medieval knight. Their armor had the same look as Castors and Jaeger's armor, no doubt meaning she was a woman.

John was once again exposed to see that the Centurion were more human then his fellow Spartans (other than the IVs from what Captain Keyes had told him). Not only that, but he could tell that among the Centurions, they had a special camaraderie that he could tell. It seemed likely that the Centurions must have all trained together for years if their familiarity was any indication along with the tones of their voices as they talked with each other.

"I guess the reason why Commander Masters was given command of those guys must be because he must know them all personally, or most of them at the very least." Cortana spoke through the internal mikes in Chief's helmet.

John simply nodded as he soon saw the four Orca dropships with the strange boxes land as they detached them from their wings as GDI personnel and the Commandos began unloading the rest from the cargo bays.

"Cortana, what can you detect in those boxes?" John inquired.

"Let me see." Cortana said as she scanned the crates. She was quite surprised when she was able to detect not only heavy weapons but also ERA (Explosive Reactive Armor) blocks along with various other tech. It seemed that the crates weren't ammunition or weapons crates, but a compact mode for what she could tell was some sort of combat robot. While the UNSC did use combat drones prior to and during the Human-Covenant War, they had never imagined building full on combat robots that would have been at home in a sci-fi movie.

Hell, some in the UNSC were concerned about making something similar to it as they didn't want a Terminator situation on their hands along with everything else.

"Uh Chief? I think those things are actually combat robots. Heavily armed ones." She said with concern in her voice.

"How heavily armed?" Chief said.

"Enough to take out a UNSC armored convoy along with plenty of aircraft. Hell, I think they could destroy almost anything the Covenant could with ease, with the exceptions being the Scarabs and very heavy and big vehicles." Cortana said after analyzing the weapons that the robots were armed with.

John couldn't help but slightly raise an eyebrow at that. _'Just how much firepower does GDI have for ground operations and what were they fighting that needed them to get this much firepower?'_ He wondered to himself.

He heard the telltale sign of the Pelican as he saw several of them approaching. He saw that some of them were the old Pelican that was used during the Human-Covenant War but looked to be sleeker and modified while others looked different as they were shorter but with stronger engines and their cockpits looking like old the Russian Hind helicopter from the Cold War but looked more heavily armed if the visible weapons on them was any indication. Then there was one that looked like the old Pelican but was bigger and sleeker, no doubt to bring in more troops to the battlefield and looked more heavily armed. There were about eight of the modified old and newer Pelicans along with the larger transport that were coming down near the opening.

He then saw the soldiers walking out, each Spartan having different looking armor on them along with certain colors for specific Spartans. The first ones that touched down were Spartans around his own size, no doubt being his fellow Spartan IIs. He then saw another II walking alongside several IIIs, no doubt being Jorge-052 (which John was amazed to see alive again after hearing about what had happened to him during the Battle of Reach) with Noble Team and the other IIIs that must have made up Hunter Team.

The other Spartans he saw were shorter then the even the IIIs, with arguably more difference in armor design then the others. They also lacked the usual discipline that other Spartans (or at least the Spartans that John knew or what he knew they should be) had, no doubt reinforcing the idea that these new Spartans were in fact volunteers who wanted to become Humanity's next generation of Supersoldiers. It was ironic, since during the war, the Spartans were said to be ODSTs that were volunteered to undergo the augmentations that turned them into living weapons. Now, that lie had come true, with the exception that most of these new Spartans (he figured that there were exceptions among them like everything else) acting a bit too over overconfident from their movements.

Three Spartans then walked up to John, him seeing whose number they had on their Breastplates. Behind his helmet, he was glad to see the three Spartans as they were his old teammates.

"Good to see you again Chief, nice to know you're still alive and kicking." Fredrick-104, also known as Fred said to his squad leader as the two shook hands.

John nodded as he looked to see both Kelly-087 and Linda-058 give him the Spartan smile, the way that the IIs were able to communicate each other they were smiling behind their helmets. He could that they carried their usual weapons that they usually carried. Linda had in her hands SRS-99 sniper rifle, a newer model from what he could see with the name Nornfang on the side of the rifle. She also had a M392 Designated Marksmen Rifle on her back which would come in handy once they moved to close engagement ranges.

Kelly had in her hands a modified M45 shotgun (which Chief saw was a new shotgun he hadn't seen before) with a grenade launcher attachment under the barrel and a reflex sight for better aiming down the sight. She had two M7 SMGs on her hips for when she needed to bring down a heavier volume of fire down on an enemy but from what Chief could tell, they had larger rounds if judging from the magazine.

As for Fred, he had a Spartan Laser on his back for dealing with any Hunters or groups of enemies along with his twin knives and M6 Magnum pistol. However, Chief had see in his right hand that he held a sleek automatic weapon with a large drum magazine and a smart scope on the top of the weapon. He what he could glance, it must be a light machine gun or a Squad Automatic Weapon aka a SAW.

Fred figured their leader would be asking what are the new weapons so he spoke up, "If your curious, some of the new weapons were developed after the Covenant War. Basically while the old weapons are being modified are still in use, the new weapons are also just as good and can use some of the attachments from the older weapons. Not only that but some of the prototype weapons that were made back on Reach and Earth in the last couple of years of the war are now in mass production. It's been a major benefit for the armed forces as a whole."

He then brings up his weapon to show Chief. "This is the M739 Squad Automatic Weapon or SAW. It helps to give infantry units a weapon that can lay down more firepower then a fireteam of riflemen. While the drum magazine takes a bit longer to reload it does allow for the weapons to fire two assault rifle magazines full of ammo in one. Not all that accurate if you hold the trigger down but if anything this is a gun you want if you need to overwhelm the enemy in a firefight. And this weapon is the tip of the iceberg."

Kelly then spoke up, "Another is this new armor we're wearing as well. It's the GEN2 version of the Mark VI armor that all Spartans are using nowadays. They allow for customization in terms of the looks of the armor and it allows for more flexibility in terms of movement. When used by Spartan IIs like us, it greatly improves our overall abilities. But the ones benefit the most are the IVs as the armor supposedly allows them to keep up wit us in terms of skills."

John nodded in reply, he could see that it would make sense for the UNSC to improve its weapons after the war as officially over. While he didn't know personally how the new weapons would fair up against those he used in the war, he guessed that as long as they gave as good if not better then their predecessors it would work for him. He was interested to also hear that the older weapons were still around and were no doubt being upgraded in order for them to be more effective.

He then saw three Spartans he never thought he would thought he would ever be able to see again.

"It's been forever John, good to see your luck hasn't run out yet." Jai-006, the leader of Gray Team spoke with a little snark in it. The other members of Gray Team, Adriana-111 and Mike-120 also walked up to the Chief as they shook hands with him.

"I take it you must have heard of the end of the war while you were still undergoing your missions Jai?" John questioned.

"Well we did hear about it after we woke up from Cryosleep." Jai said with a bit of an edge to him. "We were a little shocked to hear about what had happened after Reach with Covenant split and the Flood, but after ONI had found us Admiral Osman gave us a chance to be put back into the fight. Of course, Lord Hood had to pull some strings in order for us to serve on the _Infinity_ but it was nice getting to see the others again."

John nodded as he then saw Noble and who he could assume was Hunter Team as they were talking with each other. He looked the IDs of the members of Hunter Team and raised an eyebrow when he saw who made up the team. The first was Rosenda-A344, a Spartan III that he recalled was part of Noble Team until she was transferred out and replaced by Emile-A259. Kevin-A282 was another member of Alpha Company who was thankfully not part of the ill-fated Operation: PROMETHEUS. The final two were Lucy-B091 and Tom-B292, both were the last survivors of Beta Company after Operation: TORPEDO, the former of the two losing her ability to speak as a result of the failed mission.

John didn't think they would be placed on a team together but he figured that Captain Keyes or whoever put them on the _Infinity_ know what they were doing.

He then saw the visor of Jorge look directly at him. He nodded towards his Spartan II brother as the Reach born supersoldier was glad to see him after the war. John was glad to see him too, he thought the man was lost when he had detonated the Slipspace bomb that took out the Covenant Supercarrier _Long Night of Solace_ before it could have ended the battle sooner. John returned the gesture with a Spartan smile, knowing that he could speak with him at a later time.

He then heard footsteps behind him as he could see Havoc approach with both Raider and Sorceress along with a few other Centurions and a few Legionary Commandos. It seemed that while he was speaking with is follow IIs, the GDI supersoldiers must have spoken about how to deal with the hundreds of Covenant forces that could still be on the ship.

"I see you must be glad to see your old Spartans again huh Chief." Havoc said in a way that made it a statement instead of a question.

The Spartan IIs that didn't meet Havoc and Praetorian looked at the group of GDI Commandos. They could see that they were a few inches shorter then themselves and the Legionaries are a few inches shorter then the IIIs. They could also see that they had advanced projectile weapons along with plasma, ion, and EMP weapons on hand as well. From what Captain Keyes had mentioned to them before they boarded the transports, the new faction that had decimated a majority of the Covenant armada had more advanced weapons then they did since the armaments on their ships were powerful enough to easily destroy the Covenant ships that for nearly thirty decades had decimated countless human ships and worlds. In fact, from what they had seen, only around half a dozen ships were destroyed for the GDI fleet and dozens more being damaged from moderate to heavily damaged.

If anything, they were concerned about those types of weapons being used for anyone that wanted to attack the UNSC.

John nodded to the Centurion Captain and motioned to the Spartan II and III teams. "These are Blue, Gray, Noble, and Hunter Teams made up of the remaining Spartan II and III Commandos. Blue Team consists of myself, Spartans 104, 087, and 058. Gray Team is made of Spartans 006, 111, and 120 and specialize in attacks deep behind enemy lines. Noble and Hunter teams are made of Spartans IIIs with the exception of Spartan 052 on Noble Team."

Havoc nodded in response, seems as if the UNSC was sending its best to the mission much like they were. "So whose in charge of the UNSC here in terms of rank?"

Carter then walked up to the Centurion. "That would be me, Commander Spartan A259." He then held out his hand to the GDI supersoldier. "Thanks for getting Chief back for us and for giving the Covenant a serious bloody nose there."

Havoc then took the Spartan's hand and shook it. "Captain Havoc of Fireteam Praetorian, nice to work with you Commander."

"Likewise." Carter said.

Another Spartan soon walked up to the Centurion Commando, one of the Spartan IVs based on the height of the individual. The look of the armor made it to where she was a female. She had a single blue visor with the helmet being angled forward. Her armor was mainly white with some parts being in red. As for weapons, she carried two Magnum pistols in her hands, an unorthodox but not completely rare choice of weapons. She had a bit of experience if John could tell from the way she walked but she did seem rather overconfident in the way she presented herself.

Carter then motioned to the Spartan. "This is Commander Sarah Palmer, she's the head of all Spartan IV fireteams on the _Infinity_."

Palmer then spoke up. "Nice to meet you guys, your people are pretty good taking out the Covies like that. But lets get things all set with the plan to finally take down Jul'Madma, bastard's been having it coming for quite while."

John frowned sightly, he could tell by the tone of her voice she was a little too eager to take the fight to the enemy. He could also see the other Spartan IVs agree with their Commander's words as they agree with her. It seemed that the IVs must be overconfident due to both the advanced weapons and the benefits the newer Mjolnir armor gave to them. While they certainly helped to improve their capabilities in battle, he knew the soldier is what made the difference in combat.

"Easy their Commander Palmer, let's not get ahead of ourselves." Havoc said as he put his weapon on his shoulder.

He then spoke to Raider via internal communications, "Man these Spartan IVs are way too overconfident, they seem to act like with all of their gear and equipment that they can handle anything that they encounter. Not even the most hotshot of the Legionary Commandos are this bad."

 _"No kidding."_ Raider said through the comms. _"If anything, once we get to formally working with these guys we'll need to train them into the ground to get them to focus and to get them to more patient."_

Havoc then smiled under his helmet, "Wonder what would happen if Sargent Andrews was training them."

 _"Then we would feel sorry for those poor Spartans after enjoying seeing them get their heads out of the clouds."_ Raider said with a chuckle.

Carter meanwhile frowned at the Commander's words. "Spartan Palmer, we're not in hurry to take down Madma. Patience will be key since the bastard won't be able to escape once the last of the enemy ships flees or is destroyed. Also, we'll be dealing with thousands of Covenant soldiers between us and the target so do remember to take things more methodically."

"Yes Commander, sorry about that." Palmer said with a steady voice.

Havoc nodded towards Carter, "Thanks Commander. So you UNSC take the lead here, you know the layout of these ships the best."

"Copy that Centurion Havoc." Carter said. He then looked towards the boxes that were left by the GDI transports. While a couple were ammunition and weapons crates, which Praetorian reloaded their weapons with, most were the metallic ones that had multiple lines on their surface. "So what's with the boxes over there? Special weapons of some kind?"

"You would be correct on that thought there Spartan."

A robotic-like voice sounded to the side as two Centurions walked alongside new figure. The being had a body that looked very humanoid with there being strong joints connecting the limbs. Its body was rather blocky, especially in the torso area. Its head had a singular Blue "eye" on a boxy head whose front resembled the Mark V helmet without the visor was looking around the place where the super commandos were at.

"Ethan, didn't think the Commander would be sending you to assist in the operation." Havoc said as he approached the Combat AI.

"Well you know him best Cap, always adhering to GDI bringing overkill to any battlefield so the boys and girls can come home." The AI said as it put its GD-14 on it's shoulder.

"Fair enough." Havoc said.

"Havoc, who is this?" Chief questioned.

"I'm Petty Officer First Class Enhanced Tactical Humanoid 3rd Revision or E3N for short. Call me Ethan." The robot said to the Spartan.

"He's a special Combat AI that the folks at G-labs had built, our very own Terminator you could say." Raider said with a smirk under his helmet.

"Would I need the accent to be more official there Raider?" Ethan snarked.

"Wow, an actual AI that can fight alongside human soldiers. That's pretty impressive." Cortana said through Chief's helmet.

"You must be Cortana then?" Ethan said. "Sorry if Wesley acted like his usual joker self. The guy is immature but he just wants to help people get through tough situations."

 _"I heard that you hunk of junk."_ Wes said over the comms.

"See what I mean?" Ethan said with a hint of amusement in his voice.

"Okay stow it you two, Ethan save that for when your back on the _Olympus._ " Havoc said in a stern voice. "Anyway isn't there something you should be doing?"

"Oh yeah, leave it to me boss." Ethan said as he raised one of his arms and brought up a holographic display. "Time to play the Anthems." He then tapped a few numbers in and pressed the activation button to power up the robots he was bringing online.

The boxes then began to transform as the box turned into a mass of moving parts and panels. Soon different weapons began to appear as the robot grew in size, from large missiles to two medium caliber Gatling guns popping out of their place on the left arm of the mech. It had two 40mm grenade launchers pop up on either side of its head and a large recoiless cannon closer to the left arm along with 2 rocket pods on the waist. The mechs were rather blocky in terms of appearance but had a rather slim torso and had several large blocks on the legs, torso, and anywhere that was vulnerable on the robot. They had had a single round part that was its eyes as it was looking at its surroundings.

The Spartans were taken aback by the appearance of the autonomous mechs.

"Jesus Christ, these guys have Transformers? What else do these guys have that we don't?" A Spartan IV spoke up.

Ethan then gestured with his right arm towards the 16 heavily armed robots. "Ladies and gentlemen, may I introduce the C92A4 Anthems robot battle mechs. GDI's most heavily armed mechs and known to be the force that can punch through any enemy position, vehicle and unit with overwhelming power and the best weapon to storm a fortress with if you don't have any heavy tanks on hand to be the battering ram." He then ran scans of the all 16 mechs in order to check to see if they are running at full capacity and without any technical errors. "All 16 are up and running Cap, shall we get this show on the road?"

Havoc then turned to Carter as he loaded a new magazine into his GD-14. "Your call there Commander A-259."

Carter then shook his head after being in awe of the large combat mechs. He would have to ask them about how they were able to develop such powerful weapons later. The more they wasted time talking, the more chance Madma would be able to find a working spacecraft to get off of the ruined ship.

"Alright, everyone move out. We'll figure out a plan along the way. " He said with authority.

* * *

 **Codex: Reach-Class Battleship**

Bio: At 3km in length, the _Reach_ -Class Battleships were designed to act as the main armored fist of the UNSC and to act as the main defense defense for the _Infinity_ -Class Supercarriers that were currently being built. It's front looked like someone had taken the front half of two enlarged _Valiant_ -Class Battlecrusiers, put one of them upside down, then welded them together and made the rest of the ship from there. It's main armament was four of the new Mk III Heavy MACs which were designed for some of the newer UNSC Heavy ships. They fire 900 ton tungsten slugs or the newer Mk 25 Nuclear MAC rounds at 20% the speed of light, allowing the slug to impact with nearly 4 gigatons of TNT. These newer MAC cannons also made use of the same energy conduction technology that was used in the _Pillar of Autumn_ , allowing the cannons to fire three times per charge. They proved their worth when the _Reach_ took on a a Covenant Assault Carrier and the rounds that were fired quickly brought down the shield when the second slug brought them down and yet had enough energy and momentum to impact the ship and badly damage it.

It has 160 Archer missiles in large pods of 60 missiles each, the new M87 Laser Autonomous Weapon System or LAWS which complemented the standard M870 Rampart CIWS of UNSC ships. They also access to the Mk II Shiva nuclear missiles, which were capable of unleashing 1.25 teratons of TNT, more then the original missile was capable of. They also had six Mark 2551 Onager Mass drivers with four facing forward (one the top, one on the bottom, and one each on the sides) and the remaining two on the top behind the first one. Along with the newer Mark 2551s, there were 8 Mark 2488 Onagers in four twin gun mounts on the sides of the ship. The ship could carry a complement of 32 Longsword multirole fighters (Think the smaller ones from Halo Reach) 20 Sabre interceptors, and 12 each of the newest fighters in the UNSC, the F-41 Broadsword and the F-45 Katana fighter. They were also able to carry a squadron of 12 Falcon strike fighters for ground support and anti-armor missions.

Not counting the Carriers of the fleet, the _Reach_ -Class Battleships were most powerful vessels in the Navy and could slug it out in a straight on brawl in space.

Length: 3,030 meters

Width: 750 meters

Armament: 4 Mk III MACs

18 Mark 2551 Onager Mass Drivers (6 single and 6 twin)

160 Archer missile pods with 42 missiles each for 6720 missiles in total

220 Shiva nuclear missiles

200 M870 Rampart CIWS

40 M965 Fortress CIWS

48 M910 Rampart 105mm guns

Aircraft: GL-1A Longswords

YSS-100 Sabre

F-41 Broadsword

F-45 Katana

F-39 Falcon

* * *

 **Codex: F-45 Katana Fighter**

Bio: While the YSS-100 Sabre proved to be an effective fighter and will no doubt serve well into the future of the UNSC, with advances in technology after the Human-Covenant War it was chosen to create a more advanced fighter based off of the interceptor. New fusion engines were installed that increased the speeds of the aircraft to higher hypersonic levels to where it could easily outpace previous UNSC Covenant fighters. It also utilized more advanced stealth technology which was able to go under Covenant radar and sensors. They also utilized improved thrust-vectoring and VTOL technology that allowed for improved maneuverability. The fight first saw service in 2555 during a skirmish near Sigma Octanus IV. Four Katana fighters engaged a force of 60 Seraph fighters. The dogfight lasted more then 10 minutes and ended with all Seraph fighters destroyed and zero casualties for the UNSC pilots. Thanks to using some the neural implants used in the Spartan's Mjolnir armor, Katana pilots possess a higher reaction rate then Covenant War era fighter pilots allowing them to fly circles around their opponents. Currently, only 72 of the new fighter have been produced and all are serving with the Infinity's battlegroup with half stationed on the Supercarrier and the rest on the Reach-Class Battleships. ( **Look is based on the concept art for the Sabre** )

Armament: 2 M920 35mm Helical Railguns

1 twin barreled 20mm dorsal turret (AI controlled or pilot controlled)

1 Nose-mounted M6 Grindell/Galilean Nonlinear Cannon

2 M6088 ST/MMP missile pods with 24 missiles each

8 ASGM-10 missiles

Can carry 2 Shiva missiles for anti-ship missions

* * *

 **Codex: C-92A4 Anthems**

Bio: First made during the Fifth Scrin War, the C-92 was made in order to give Infantry units improved AA defense if any vehicles weren't able to traverse certain terrain. While the first mass produced versions had some teething problems, eventually they were ironed out and the robotic weapons platform was finally able to see effective use on the battle field. It's heavy armament was able to bring down swarms of Scrin drones when in combat or shredding enemy infantry units, which earned it the nickname of "Shredder." The C92A1 was designed as a simple drone mech with less firepower then the current models, being controlled by someone behind a computer away from the first lines. This was due to a good amount of officers and higher-ups in GDI having concerns about giving these drones full autonomy as they didn't went a scenario that would come right out of the late 20th Century movie series Terminator. However, as true AIs were beginning to see full service in GDI, the A2 was released with a Dumb AI piloting the machine. It could be manipulated via a soldier or group's EVA or a full AI like a hivemind, following the unit's commands. It first saw combat along with the original model against the Neo Brotherhood, proving a capable opponent for Nod's Ravager robots. Later and prior to the Sixth Scrin War, the A3 was released which used a smart AI which could be inserted via beam from any GDI power armor, or placed in via AI chip. The latest version, the A4 is designed to operate without AI but is equipped with heavier weaponry then precious models. They can be controlled by AI much like a hivemind allowing them to send orders to each individual units along with having the data from the robots be sent to other GDI soldiers. (Based on the C-12 Main Battle Tank fro CoD: IW)

Height: 10 meters

Width: 3 meters

Length: 1.2 meters

Armament: 2 37mm Gatling guns

8 Hellfire X anti-tank missiles

8 FGM-200 Javelin OPGM missile launchers or 8 AIM-140 Hawk AA missiles

2 Mk 45 Grenade launchers

2 80mm Rocket pods with 28 rockets each (both regular and APKWS Mk V rockets)

1 M30E10A1 120mm Recoiless Rifle

Armor: Octagonal Composite Armor with ERA blocks on its vulnerable joints

Engine: Particle fusion core

* * *

 **And... Done!**

 **Finally, another awesome chapter of Flight of the Twin Eagles is finished.**

 **So as you can see with the arrival of the UNSC, the battle is now starting to wine down as with Jul'Madma's ship knocked out they are still without a main leader to get the vast majority to stay. Add on the fact that despite the vast numbers difference they faced, GDI had taken down over half of their massive armada while only losing a few ships that were small compared to the main ships. They had also had a good sized amount of their remaining ships disabled due to the number and power if GDI's EMP missiles.**

 **So yeah if anything, the fact ships are now starting to desert is appropriate considering that the Covenant forces Post Covenant War are now more easily taken out by the UNSC with their new ships and weapons along with a new faction that is able to take out dozens to hundreds of their own ships even easier then the UNSC, it would make since that some of non-Sangheili captained ships would start fleeing quickly.**

 **Also you'll have noticed that I'm using both the old and newer versions of the Pelican from when I had the Spartans arrive. To me I don't have a problem with the art style the 343 introduced in Halo 4 and 5 (yes they are over-detailed but I don't have a big issue with it like those that absolutely hate it). Some of the weapons they introduced to me felt like they should have done so sooner in the war from a lore standpoint like the SAW (seriously, it took us this long to finally get a LMG into the UNSC arsenal? I know in terms of game balance and all that but I mean in the actual universe that was never thought up by the UNSC? That is just weird). Now I'll still be using both versions of the Pelican, however they'll be having different roles. The older Pelican will be used as a transport while the newer Pelican will be used more as a gunship (some of the authors that have helped me by being my Beta readers came up with the idea and I figure that could work. Especially since the Condor gunship in Halo Wars 2 is a thing and uses the design of the new Pelican well).**

 **Also, Ethan from Call of Duty: Infinity Warfare is in the story along with C-12 MBT!**

 **Yeah not going to lie when my friend Gamerman22 suggested it to me I thought it wouldn't work since I hadn't seen anything regarding IW and had only heard of how much people hated the game. However, after seeing how awesome and entertaining Ethan was, I went ahead and put him in. So he'll have a backstory that allows him to fit into this universe I made for GDI. Also I added the C-12 as I figured since GDI would use drone units along with powerful mechs in combat, the C-12 would fit right in for bringing heavy firepower to where ever they needed it on the battlefield.**

 **Now next chapter, I'll be introducing some new stuff for the UNSC. Some will be based on weapons that were concepts that would have been in Halo Reach but were cut from the game along with weapons that have the looks of weapons that Halo Fans have made. The weapons that I saw on Halo Fanon are amazing in terms of looks and capabilities. So if I ever choose to put in such weapons, I will give the credit to those weapon makers and say how much I'm blown away by their work.**

 **As for GDI, will if you've seen the power armor designs that were made in the various C &C mods for the games that have been made over the years, those will be the different armor variants for the GDI Commandos so you can better tell them apart while reading.**

 **Anyway, that will be it for now. So hope you guys enjoy and leave a comment or review for me.**

 **This is Blazblade signing off!**


	6. Chapter 5: Supersoldier Blitz

**Okay now onto the last bits of the spacebattle and the main focus of capturing Jul'Madma.**

 **Note: Will be using something that was inspired by another story I read on the site. Look up Halo, The Art of War by Havoc-legionnaire for the story were the Nuclear MAC round originally came from. It's a pretty good story with John learning how to be a true Commander and everyone putting up with Spearhead's crazy antics off and on the battlefield (seriously, add Deadpool in the mix and things would be truly insane). Also, I do like the new weapons and equipment that he had come up with for both firearms and ship weapons. So some of the weapons that I'll introduce maybe inspired by his own to help the UNSC for future battles.**

* * *

Chapter 5: Supersoldier Blitz

 **UNSC _Reach_**

"MAC #2 firing!"

The mighty battleship shook once more as the 900 ton slug shot across the void of space as it impacted a Supercrusier attempting to flee the battlefield. Holloway couldn't help but smirk at the misfortune that the Storm had in this battle. GDI had basically crippled a massive part of Madma's Covenant Storm in this one battle, with the crushing defeat no doubt going to cause the whole group to split up immediately or begin to fracture after this battle. Now the number of remaining ships that the Covenant had were down to less then 250 ships with a good amount of those ships starting to flee from the battlefield. Some of the ships that remained were no doubt captained by Sangheili who would continue to resist as their warrior's pride would cause them to fight to the end.

One of those ships, a CAS Assault Carrier fired at one of GDI's larger ships, a battlecruiser from what their new allies could tell them, took a shot from its glassing beam. While the ship's shield's held for a few seconds, they soon went down as the beam made contact with the ship's hull. However, the ships armor was able to take the powerful beam and fire back at it with one of its Ion cannons and launched several missiles at the attacker. It was something that very few UNSC ships were able to during the Human-Covenant War with any Covenant ship, a testament to the strength of this faction's forces. The beam blasted through the bulbous front as the missiles impacted the main body and caused the ship to break apart via multiple explosions.

 _'Damn, their ships are pretty tough.'_ Holloway thought.

GDI then fired another barrage of missiles as they impacted a group of SDV Corvettes, CPV-class heavy destroyers, and CCS battlecruisers which were disabled by a prior EMP missile strike. The smaller ships were taken out by a only few missiles as the majority were focused on the larger ships. The ships were easily destroyed as hundreds of Covenant aliens flew out into space as they began to lose oxygen and beginning to freeze over along with the wreckage of Covenant ships and vehicles. A few minutes later, a volley of MAC rounds from the UNSC impacted a group of the few dozen remaining Supercruisers as the 600 and 900 ton slugs easily punched through the shields and and sheered the capital ships in two or just obliterated them outright.

However, a few of the remaining CAS Assault Carriers targeted one of GDI's badly damaged Light Dreadnoughts as they manged a lucky shot and their concentrated glassing beams managed to damage the energy core of the ship to beyond repair and would eventually destroy the ship. Not only that but entire groups Heavy destroyers took out a couple of their badly damaged destroyers as they launched another volley of all of their missiles at the enemy fleet, determined to take more of the enemy down with them.

Plus a massive volley of plasma torpedoes ended up blowing up a badly damaged cruiser that was covering for dropships pulling out more survivors from their escape pods as they launched all remaining missiles which took out a few Light destroyers that were shooting at their fighters.

However, the most horrific thing the enemy did was that those piloted by Jackals and Sangheili who were enraged at their losses took out a few of their defenseless escape pods.

This only caused more of GDI's pilots to act even more aggressive and work even harder. Not only that but UNSC pilots, thinking back to destruction of the war with Covenant soon began to fall upon them with a fierceness that only veterans could process.

Among those engaging the enemy with renewed vigor was a flight of Longswords soon flew next to a disabled battlecruiser which tried to fire the few point defense weapons it still had on.

While in the past the Longsword's best anti-ship weapon was the Shiva nuclear missile, in more recent years the UNSC had begun production of smaller versions of its famous MAC cannons. It allows the the fighter to deal damage to areas of enemy ships as it is able to break sizable holes along with taking out enemy weapon emplacements. It also is an effective weapon to take out large enemy vehicles as a Longsword that was armed with a mini-MAC was able to deal damage to a Covenant Scarab.

However, after the Mini MAC was created it was seen early on that the weapon would need a stronger round in order to deal more damage to enemy ships. Said round was in the prototype stage by the time of the Battle of Reach and unfortunately wasn't able to be produced in sizable numbers and wasn't used before the war ended. However, due to the reconstruction of the UNSC, projects that weren't able to see use during the the War in any numbers were being built and produced in large numbers. It was now to the point were the round was now placed on most UNSC ships, giving the captains options to tackle Covenant ships.

The round was the Mk 25 nuclear round.

The lead Longsword fired its mini MAC at the center of the ship, the 140mm slug going at round 10% the speed of light. A second later, a mini sun appeared on the side of the ship, blowing a massive hole where it impacted and causing an EMP wave that further crippled the ship's electronics. The remaining Longswords fired their nuclear rounds as well, the resulting explosions being enough to eventually break the ship in two.

More MAC rounds and Archer missiles flew through space at more of the remaining Covenant armada, taking out over 90 of them including the last 18 Supercruisers and 16 Battleships. It was mostly smaller Covenant warships along with 12 CAS Assault Carriers, 38 CCS Battlecruisers, and 20 ORS Heavy cruisers. GDI then fired out another massive volley of Crossbow missiles at the remaining capital ships, making sure the powerful vessels couldn't escape. Over half of the capital ships were hit by multiple missiles as their engines cut out along with shutting off most of their weapon systems. Only a few of the point defense lasers were working as while some of the Covenant ships fired another volley of Plasma torpedoes, the laser CIWSs on GDI ships quickly intercepted the incoming projectiles. While a handful had gotten close to the ships, they were all destroyed before any of the damaged ships were hit by them.

One of the GDI ship, a cruiser type from what they could tell was trailing fire due to multiple hits from Covenant plasma weaponry, the ship trying to stay aloft. A lone CAS Assault Carrier which wasn't affected by the EMP missile strike was positioning itself to target the damaged ship.

"Helm, position our front towards that mobile Covie ship." Holloway ordered.

"Aye sir." The ship's helm said as he turned the ship towards the enemy vessel.

"MAC cannon #3 is fully charged and ready to fire Captain." The WEP reported.

"Once we're in position open fire. We can't let our new friends take any more losses. Pour energy from the shields into the thrusters and MACs to speed things up." Holloway said to his crew. GDI lost quite a number of ships to the massive number of Covenant weapons. While they were able to launch escape pods and evacuated, there was no doubt that more bodies would be added if he didn't stop the Covenant ship. The _Reach's_ thrusters went full blast the ship pointed its front towards the enemy ship as the MAC cannons charged up as quickly as possible.

The mighty battleship then got itself into position as the Covenant ship was still charging their glassing beam.

"MACs #2 and #3 fully charged sir." the WEP responded.

"Fire away!" Holloway ordered.

The ship shook as the six rounds form the two MAC guns flew out at 20% the speed of light. They quickly crossed the distance by the time that the glassing beam was fully ready. The rounds slammed into the ship, causing the ship to be pushed to the side as the beam fired out at the same time. The beam missed the targeted ship as the shields were broken and the rounds blasted the ship apart. The last two rounds flew through the remains of the ship and impacted two CCS Battlecruisers, smashing apart the shields and destroying the ships in quick order.

Holloway let out a sigh that he didn't know he held as he let a smile cross his face.

"Sir, we're getting a transmission from the GDI ship that was targeted." The comms officer reported.

"Patch it through." Daniel said.

 _"This is Captain Lewis Jacobson of the GDS Augustus to the UNSC Reach, thanks for saving our asses back there. You may have saved this ship to fight in the future."_ The GDI captain spoke.

"This is Captain Holloway of the UNSC _Reach_ , its our pleasure. Hope your ship gets back up to fighting shape captain." Holloway said with a smile.

 _"Understood, Augustus out."_

The communication then cut off as GDI fired another barrage of fire from their forward armaments as they blasted apart more Covenant ships, which brought the number down to less than 100 ships with some of those remaining ships completely disabled.

 _"Looks like this battle is pretty much over."_ Holloway thought.

* * *

 **UNSC _Infinty_**

"All ships, fire again! Take out the remaining ships!"

The massive UNSC ship shook again as the Super MACs fired again along with other UNSC ships at the remaining Covenant ships, with several of them being disabled from GDI's Crossbow missiles. The glowing yellow slugs shot through space at one-fifth the speed of light as dozens more Covenant ships were blown to pieces by the large tungsten slugs impacting them with forces in the megatons. Then more ships were destroyed as both UNSC and GDI fighters and strike craft tore them apart with their anti-ship armaments.

This battle would no doubt go down in history as the greatest one-sided slaughter that the Covenant ever suffered.

"Well Captain, looks like this battle has been decided." Lasky said with a smirk on his face. "All that's left is to see how Chief and joint supersoldier group deals with capturing Jul'Madma."

"Your right on that Commander." Miranda said as she turned to him. "However, there maybe something else we can do for our new friends." She then tuned to the comms and flight control officers on the bridge. "Order all Pelican and Albatross transports to help GDI pick up any survivors. Since we've been good Samaritans in helping these people out may as well continue."

"Aye ma'am." Both individuals responded.

"Do you think we should have sent some more Spartan IV fireteams or a company of ODSTs ma'am?" One of the bridge crew spoke to Miranda.

"It will be alright Ensign Grayson," Miranda said with a smile. "Besides, with the Chief back and the help of our new allies, we may have a better chance then we think."

"Ma'am! We have an encrypted message coming in from the _Song of Retribution_." The comms officer reported. "It's the code used by the Sangheili Seperatists!"

Miranda's eyes widened as she heard the words. She figured that with the current level of power and influence that Madma had gotten in recent years would attract major focus from the Sangheili that have sided with the Arbiter. In fact, Thel'Vadum had in fact sent several of his best Sangheili Spec Ops in order to infiltrate the Covenant Storm and give any information they found to the UNSC. However, she didn't think that they were some on the Covenant flagship, so close to Madma himself.

"Get word to the Chief and make sure that GDI gets the memo. We don't want them to have a serious mishap between them and the Sangheili." Miranda ordered immediately. She figured that unless they got the IFF signatures that the newly form Swords of Sangheilios had given the UNSC as to avoid friendly fire incidents, GDI would see them as more of the Storm's soldiers and would but them down without question. This would no doubt sour any future relations that GDI could have with the Arbiter's forces and maybe lead to a shooting war if cooler heads don't prevail.

"Yes ma'am." The comms officer said as they sent to information to the Spartans.

 _'Let's hope they get it before the shooting starts.'_ Miranda thought to herself.

* * *

 **Meanwhile, on the _Song of Retribution_**

The group of Spartans, Legionaries, and Centurions advanced through the ship along with the 16 Anthems, the robots footsteps sounding through the large ship as they advanced.

"So this is the inside of these ships?" Ursa said aloud, "They're quite spacious."

"Yeah, I'm surprised we haven't run into any Covenant soldiers so far." Jackal said. "Think the damage to other parts of the ship blasted out more troops then we thought?"

"We'll be running into them soon enough Centurions." Carter said to the GDI supersoldiers. "Just wait for it."

"Well, certainly can't wait for the target practice to begin." Ethan said, a hint of amusement in his voice.

Havoc then saw on his motion tracker that there were some movement up ahead, no doubt the Covenant trying to take up position. Since they were on the enemy's ship they had the home-field advantage since they knew where best to position themselves. While the Anthems would give GDI heavy support fire to where they would be able to deal with any vehicles and help overwhelm whatever defenses they come up with, they would still be in trouble if they end up being surrounded by Covenant forces via using different corridors to flank the group of supersoldiers.

"Wait." John called out.

"What is it Chief?" Raider questioned.

"Captain Keyes just sent me word that there are special forces soldiers from the Sangheili Separatists. They didn't have any on the ships we destroyed but they are sending information to us for the remaining units on the ship, mainly their movements and where Madma is on the ship. She also wants to make sure that our allies don't end up shoot them down."

"I'm guessing that these guys are friendly Elites that are helping the UNSC?" Raider said aloud.

Chief simply nodded to the Centurion.

The GDI commandos realized that it would make sense for them to have information like that. If they didn't have anything that could give away they were different that they could immediately see, they could end up killing friendlies by mistake and cause problems for them down the road.

"Cortana." John said to his AI.

"On it Chief. Here's the IFF data for you Logan." Cortana then sent the package to Logan as he then adjusted it to work for the GDI Commandos. A second later, all Legionary and Centurion Commandos all had the data uploaded to their HUDs, now having the ability to tell friendly Elite from enemy Elite.

"Got it." Havoc said as he spoke up for the GDI soldiers.

"Alright let's keep moving."

* * *

 **At the bridge of the ship.**

"How could this happen!? How could these new humans destroy all my forces so easily!?"

Jul' Madma was beyond enraged at what he had seen happen to his forces. During the first GDI barrage, his ship was hit by several of GDI's EMP missiles, easily taking it out of the fight along with the few Harpoon and Nimbus missiles that impacted the ship, causing several hundred of its crew and soldiers to fly out to space, causing them to freeze up and die. Not only that, but the hanger bays were also hit, causing the number of Seraph fighters that it could launch to be minimal. He himself had been knocked unconscious, and only awoke up a half an hour later but still not feeling up to his best. He had told that the small fleet of new human ships were in fact decimating his armada with only a few ships being claimed in revenge, most of them being the smaller ships.

He figured that they could still recover from this battle and perhaps take out the heavier capital ships, hoping that his fellow Sangheili commanders would do so in order to seek more losses for the enemy. However, the UNSC had arrived some time after he had awoken and the battle became even more of a slaughter for his forces. He flew into a rage, using his energy sword to cut nearly anything that was junk to him in rage. He had thought due to their small numbers and the arrogance of their Fleetmaster that he could easily crash these humans faster then the UNSC.

However, it now seemed that the slaughter that the Covenant had given to the UNSC during the war was now happening to them on a massive scale.

If he did make it through this day, he would need to assemble a larger force from the massive force he had built up over the years in order to crush this fleet with much more firepower.

"Didact's Hand!" His second in command, Gek 'Lhar approached him at a fast pace. His numerous UNSC dog tags, trophies from killing dozens of UNSC Marines and ODSTs over the years clinked around violently as he ran. "We were able to get the ship's sensors back up and have just detected several of the Demons on broad the ship from both human groups!"

"WHAT!?" Madma said as he yelled at the top of his voice. "Why aren't our forces deploying against them? They should be fighting them at this time!"

"We only recently got the systems back online to tell us of their arrival back online following the EMP weapons the new humans used against us. Also the previous attack had blasted several hundred of our warriors that were the closest to their entry point were sent into space." Gek responded. "I am currently sending all of our warriors against them as we speak."

"I want those Demons eradicated for stepping onto our ship now! See to it that their corpses are brought to me and their heads displayed as trophies!" Madma ordered.

Meanwhile, a nearby Sangheili was overhearing the conversation between the two. However, unknown to all but a few of his fellow warriors, he was a spy from the Swords of Sangheilios, under orders from the Arbiter himself to inform the UNSC of Madma's movements. This Sangheili, Vrilz' Kuame was one of the best in the Arbiter's Spec Ops forces given recommendation by R'tas Vadum himself. He pulled out a communicator and began to call as he stepped away.

"V'rak, are the others keeping watch on the Storm's movements?" He spoke quietly into the comm.

 _"Yes Vrilz, the others are tracking them through the ship."_ The Sangheili on the other line was one of his comrades, V'rak Vuxilt said as he continued to follow the Storm force he was assigned to. " _We'll send to the information to the Demons soon enough as we get close to their current position. The others are also prepared to pull off the final move on Madma's forces once you give the word."_

"Good, at long last Madma will fall and these traitors shall be wiped out for going against the Reclaimers." Vrilz said. "Be careful my friend, may the ancestors watch over us and the humans."

 _"To you as well my friend."_ V'rak said as he cut the communication. Vrilz then walked over to Madma who was still focused on getting all of his remaining forces out to attack the Spartans and GDI supercommandos. "What about my forces, Leader? Should we lead the main force against the Demons?"

"Vrilz, I want your unit as part of Gek's reserve. If the Demons overwhelm the rest of our forces, I want both you and Gek to lead the main reserve force to put the final nail for the Demons once the trap is sprung in the last area prior to the bridge." Madma spoke.

Vrilz then gave the clueless Storm leader a classic Sangheili salute. "Understood Didact's Hand, consider it done. The unholy ones shall meet the fate that they deserve and the ones chosen by the gods shall be blessed by glorious victory this day."

Unknown to Madma and other Storm leaders, Vrilz was talking about them being the unholy ones and the humans being the ones blessed by the Gods.

* * *

 **Meanwhile, with the supersoldiers**

"Heads up everyone, we got company." Carter said as the Spartan's motion trackers detected the incoming Storm forces.

"Ethan." Havoc said as he turned to the combat AI.

"Way ahead of you Captain." Ethan brought up the controls as he started to position the Anthems best to deal with the incoming enemy forces. The large robots soon began to move around as Ethan gave them positions to take up, their heavy footsteps sounded off against the walls of the ship. The Centurions, Legionaries, and Spartans soon began to position themselves in whatever cover they could find before the shootout would officially begin. They began to position themselves at any of the side hallways as well, knowing that the Storm would try to outflank them as the main force came down at them from the front. To this end, Ethan put two Anthems near the side hallways, one of each side as the rest faced forward while a few Centurions put themselves behind the armored robots for some protection.

The footsteps got louder as the first Covenant troops finally appeared from the corridor in front of the group.

"OPEN FIRE!" Carter said as all of the supersoldiers and Anthems opened fire. from hypersonic bullets and slugs to the 37mm rounds of the Anthems Gatling guns, the spray of lead tore through the first wave, the latter rounds even punching through the heavily armored Hunters that led the attack force. Next came 40mm grenades from both the UNSC and GDI, with the latter being guided via their Dumb AI to their targets and either hitting them dead on or exploding in the air.

Ursa and a few more Centurion Zone Commandos used their Gatling guns to shred apart charging Grunts and quickly draining energy shields and tearing apart Elites. A couple of Spartan IVs then aimed their Spartan Lasers at a pair of Hunters, the bright beam lacing on the slow moving aliens as a split-second after the beam stopping flashing rapidly a bright crimson beam impacted the Hunters completely disintegrated as their Fuel Rod Cannons dropped to the ground. Kat then opened fire with a customized BR55 with a longer barrel and and square shaped scope (think the barrel and scope used by the blue colored BR from the now shut down Halo Online) and opened fired with quick three round bursts that focused on headshots on the Jackals. Then a Spartan IV moved up with a sliver colored grenade launcher with a scope on top with 16 grenades in the drum as he quickly fired off three grenades as they exploded above two groups of Grunts trying to take position behind some energy barriers.

Linda was using firing away with her personal sniper rifle, easily killing whatever Elite came her way. When she landed another Elite in her crosshairs, its head exploded in spectacular fashion. She looked to her side to see one of the Centurions, Jaeger she recalled from what Chief had told them using a weapon that looked similar to the one she had seen her use before, but had what looked to be a small piston on top of the barrel. Unknown to her at the time, Emily was using the ramjet version of the GLS-110 which was more powerful at punching through shields and body armor. Using ramjet technology that was improved from the original design from the First Tiberium War, the 14.5mm slugs were able to go at even higher speeds, practically close to sub-light speeds. This version was first used during the Sixth Scrin War and allowed GDI snipers to punch clean through any of the Scrin's infantry like their armored carapace was like tissue paper.

Jaeger soon looked to the Spartan sniper, no doubt smirking under her helmet at having a new rival to compete with in terms of skill. Linda had to admit, the female Centurion was quite skilled, but not at her level yet. Sure the woman has in fact been able to keep up with her but she isn't near her level yet. However, she could see that the woman could improve and perhaps get up to her own level given enough time. As for right now, she could tell that the sniper had great skill and could be considered the first person in a while that could compete with her in terms of sniping prowess.

However before the Centurion she could open up, several rounds barked out and killed two Elites using Beam rifles with the space of two seconds. A ping sound was heard as the two looked to see another Centurion insert a en-bloc clip into her rifle. This one had two large eye visors with three smaller ones curving around the main eyes (think the large eye from the Viking Venom armor from C&C Rise of the Reds but one for each eye), and had a more streamlined version of the Mk 3 ICS.

"Nice shots there Fang," Jaeger said with respect in her voice. It seemed to the Zen focused Spartan that these two particular Centurions knew each other well and were rivals by the tone of Jaeger's voice.

"May want to keep your eye on the prize there Jaeger, otherwise I'll take your spot again." Sophia "Fang" Fairburne, the descendant of Karl Fairburne said to her friend/rival as she took aim with her MX Garand. Both of them were in fact cadets for the Centurion Program along with Cole and the rest of Fireteam Praetorian and were known for being the top shots of the group with them always switching between the top spot. During the missions they had as regular Centurions, Sophia had managed to get up to 150 kills under her as she killed several high level Scrin Commanders during the Sixth Scrin War, including one that commanded a massive force during the Battle of New Terra which helped GDI to slow the enemy advance as they managed to counter them faster then if she didn't take it out.

"Same with you." Emily said as she fired upon another Elite who was armed with a Beam Rifle as he was firing at Jackal, easily blowing its head off with a single shot.

Sophia then shrugged as she fired upon a group of Jackals as she easily bypassed the shields and easily dispatched them with headshots after shutting their shields down.

Linda couldn't help but smirk a bit herself as she finally had someone else that could keep up with her alongside Jun who was still the best shot of the Spartan IIIs. These two seem to be the ones with the most potential that she has seen so far from the new group. Of course their was no doubt that their were others that could also reach a similar level to that of a Spartan II if given enough time. Not only that, but she had others to help compete with her to get her to improve her own skills.

Raider soon took off using his jetpack to help boost his speed as he charged down a group of suicidal Grunts. He then stuck his right leg out and slid on the ground much like a baseball player siding to a base. He then turned on his jetpack again as he pushed off the ground using his momentum as he went above the group if small aliens. He then pulled out his AA-24 auto shotgun and blasted them apart with his streams of buckshot as the grenades detonated, killing even more of them. He then rolled to cover as he then tossed a homing disk at an Elite that was charging at him with an energy sword in hand. It stepped on the disk as it landed on the ground, causing it to explode and takes out the alien's leg as he fires at the alien's head.

Fred looked at the Centurion with a raised eyebrow behind his helmet. ' _Was that really necessary?"_

Castor and the members of Fireteam Mystic then stopped several Plasma grenades and Fuel Rod Cannon shots that were flying towards the joint group, as the Spartans (mainly the IVs) were taken aback by the sight. John was the only one that was able to see the powers of Tiberium Mutants during the fire-fights on board the _Forward Onto Dawn,_ so he was quite aware of their powers the ways such powers could be used. The IIs and IIIs were a little stunned at the sight for a couple seconds before the mutants tossed the explosives back at their owners.

"Seriously? Are these guys magic or something?" One of the IVs that had a M739 SAW in his hands said aloud.

 _'Oh they haven't seen anything yet.'_ Havoc thought to himself.

Three Spartan IVs then fired at a group of several Grunts their MA5Ds that had tried to outflank the group but was able counter them due to info sent by the Sangheili Spec Ops soldiers. Two of them used accurate bursts to cut them down with the third firing their M301 grenade launcher, the round bursting in the main group of Grunts killing them instantly. Rosenda then appeared with a M75 LMG in her hand, one that had a box with an ammo belt that was already in the gun, as she laid down a stream of bullets that killed even more of the small aliens.

"Bang! on your left!" Jackal yelled towards another Centurion that was armed with a M64 grenade launcher as the two sent several grenades towards a group of Jackals that were trying to take position and open fire with their needlers. The Jackals tried to bring their shields up believing the rounds would impact the shields, but the rounds flew over the shields as they exploded behind them. The concussive force either killing the closet one or causing the ones in front to break up their defenses. Seeing this, a nearby Legionary opened fire with their GDM-22L, high speed glowing green bolts hitting their heads or torso and turning them into Swiss cheese.

One of the Centurion Zone Commandos with a gorilla on their right shoulder moved up with a M6A1 laser Gatling gun as they began to come under fire.

"Primal! Engage shields before they really focus down on you my friend!" Ursa yelled as he fired a cluster missile at a pair Elites who were aiming Beam Rifles at a pair of Spartan IVs which were focus firing with their BR85s.

"Primal", also known as Lance Corporal Steven Kowalski soon pressed a button on his Gatling gun which let up a blue barrier that began to block incoming fire from multiple heavy weapons. It was one of GDI's inventions, a small energy barrier that heavy gunners could use to block a good amount of enemy fire so they could focus on suppressing or taking down infantry. The gun spun up as green bolts flew down range as the Centurion Zonnie was able to kill several more Elites that were firing with dual wielding Plasma Repeaters at Kevin-A282 who was using a modified BR55 that didn't have the curved part and had in its place a circular scope (think the one used by the Range focused Battle Rifle from Halo Online) and a grenade launcher under the barrel.

However, this was a new variant of the older BR55 that had been used during the Human-Covenant War. The weapon was the BR60 Battle Rifle, which instead of using the 9.5mm rounds it and the BR85 used, it fired the 7.62mm round that the MA5 series of assault rifles and the M392 DMR fired. The weapon's slower rate of fire and better accuracy allowed it to used beyond the effective range that the MA5D could reach, allowing the weapon to reach beyond 750 yards. It has proven to be effective and useful for UNSC Marines and ODSTs, which were much more manageable on full automatic and gave them more focused grouping meaning more effective suppressing fire from the soldiers.

The Spartan III looked towards the larger GDI soldier and nodded as a sign of thanks, which Steven returned.

Jorge along with a few more IVs soon began to move up, his M247H blazing away at a group Jackals and a pair of Eiltes. His weapon was using HEIAP rounds that increased the power of the rounds to that of 20mm rounds, allowing them to quickly drain the Aliens shields as they began to fall. One of the IVs armed with a M45 tossed a frag grenade into a group of Grunts that were suicide charging the four Spartans, exploding and causing a chain reaction with the plasma grenades. He then opened fire on the the aliens with buckshot from their shotgun as their bodies were torn apart. Another the Spartans aimed down their ARC-920 railgun towards one of the muscular Elite as the weapon hummed with power as it charged.

*BOOM*

A sound like a thunderclap sounded out as the 16 x 65mm slug shot forward and punched though both the Elite's shields and exploded its chest, causing the upper area of its torso to blast off from the force of the slug.

Raider let out a low whistle at the handheld railgun's power, "That thing has some punch."

The Anthems took some fire from the Covenant soldiers, but their tough armor took the shots from weapons such as Fuel Rod Cannons. Two of them fired their recoiless rifles at a group of Jackals and Grunts, their airburst shells exploding above them and ripping apart their organs and knocking them down. Another Anthems opened fire with their grenade launchers as they homed in on several more Covenant aliens and turned them into bloody chunks and body parts. Another positioned on the left of the joint group turned and fired an Hellfire X missile at a charging Hunter that was charging at Emile who was slashing at Jackals with his kukri knife. The large alien then exploded into pieces as Raider along with two Legionaries soon charged at three Elites while firing their shotguns before the Centurion drew his great sword and used his jetpack to boost himself and thrust his sword through the Elite's head. One of the Elites tried to swing his energy sword at Raider but was blocked by one of the Legionaries intercepting the incoming slash with a fusion blade. The Legionary then continued clashing with the fusion blade until he cut the Sangheili's arm off as the other Legionary blasted the Elite's head off with their Flak gun.

Raider then blocked the last Elite's attack as he blasted at it with his AA-24 as he jumped over the alien. while the shield held from the shot he took, Fang was able to finish up with a shot to the head that managed to break through the shields and killed the tall being. Another Elite tried to fire on Raider, but was targeted by a Spartan IV that used an upgraded SPNKr rocket launcher that had three missile tubes instead of the standard two. He fired two missiles towards the Elite which forced it to move out of the way but still had its shields flare as they still felt the concussive wave and heat due to how close the explosions were. This allowed a Legionary to open fire with a GDM-22 LMG which took down the tall alien.

An Elite Spec Ops soldier tried to approach Kaze as he was firing away with his GD-18 SMG, but was quickly fired upon when Kaze saw him via his Echo Visor powerful scanners. He quickly turned and opened fire, causing the Elite to bring up his sword pointing downward to block the shots. Kaze's eyes widen at the sight but before he could bring out his own sword to fight, Noble Six soon appeared behind the Sangheili and after jumping on the alien's back quickly stabbed his combat knife into its neck. He then pulled out his Magnum and fired at a pair of Jackals firing away with Covenant Carbines as he knocked their shields out of their hands. Linda and Emily took advantage of that opening and at the same time fired their sniper rifles and took out the aliens a second after the shields were ripped away.

The Spartan III then jumped off of his kill and redrew his MA5D and took out several more Grunts with a shot from the attached grenade launcher. He then saw a Jackal try and go around to shoot at him, but saw a knife fly towards the alien as it nailed it between the eyes. He turned to see that it was Kaze who threw the knife as the Centurion nodded to the Hyper Lethal Spartan which Arron returned. He helped Kaze out with the Elite and he helped him with the flanking Jackal, so they had no debts between them as he had repaid him in full. The two then went back to opening fire on the enemy, helping their comrades move up.

"All teams move up!" Carter yelled as he kept firing away with his MA5D assault rifle. The Anthems began to fire away as they advanced as well, some firing laser guided rockets along with heavy amounts of lead at the fleeing aliens as more soon began to turn to bloody body parts or just different colored mist. A couple of the Anthems had received sizable damage with them losing a few of their ERA blocks that stopped the shots from the Covenant's heavy weapons. Five more were moderately damaged by constant fire from the various aliens, but weren't as bad as the first two. The aliens numbers were dwindling as some of the Grunts began to run away.

"Accursed Unggoy!" One of the Storm Elites yelled as he shot several in the back. "All units pull back! we need to get to the second defense position!" The Sangheili and the Hunters began to pull back as they left the Jackals and Grunts to die in their place. While the Sangheili were angered that they didn't exact revenge for their comrades along with getting honor for their ancestors, they followed orders and pulled back as best as they could.

Ethan, seeing the heavy hitters of the Storm fall back looked towards the damaged Anthems. While their was no doubt in the robot's data banks that the damaged mech could continue to function effectively, there was a good chance that they could be destroyed too early now that the enemy could anticipate them now. Luckily, he had one way that GDI had that could repair the robots back to full strength. Plus, it would against surprise the UNSC on another piece of tech that GDI had that they couldn't imagine. He then a gun that was glowing green from the barrel and parts of the body as Kat looked at the combat AI.

"Ethan, what is that?" Kat said to the cyborg.

"Watch and learn my UNSC friends." Ethan said as he pointed the gun at the damaged mechs as a green energy beam flew out of the barrel. However, instead of it doing even more damage to the robots, the green impacted the damaged areas and to the shock of the Spartans, began to mend itself. All of the melted parts of the body and armor began to go back to how they were prior to the shootout, with any exposed parts made by the enemy fire being sealed up. After a few seconds, the damage was minimal and the robot was starting to look like it hadn't seen any combat as of yet. Yet again, the Spartans were taken aback by the technology that GDI had in its possession as they wondered how the hell they had even got to that point.

V'rak, following one of the groups that was heading towards the joint UNSC-GDI force, making sure that they would be led into a slaughtering ground. He saw the new human Demons fight alongside the ones that all of the Swords had fought against and were now allies following the Arbiter reveling the lies of the Prophets. He couldn't help but be amazed by how strong the new humans's weaponry with constructs proving to easily mow down the delusional Storm soldiers in large amounts. If these new humans had appeared during the war, given enough time and resources they could easily strengthen the UNSC to match the Covenant in space which was their biggest disadvantage against them and eventually push them back across the planets they glassed and into their own space.

 _'I can only imagine the look of rage on Madma's face after seeing over dozens upon dozens of his warriors killed so easily by these two human groups.'_ The Spec Ops Sangheili thought to himself. _"The Arbiter maybe quite interested in hearing about this new faction and the power it possesses.'_

* * *

 **UNSC _Infinty_**

The UNSC flagship shook again as one of the ship's MACs fired its round at the last CAS Assault Carrier on the battlefield. It was now down to handful of capital ships including 5 CCS battlecruisers and 6 ORS heavy cruisers with the remaining 6 SDV corvettes and 10 CPV heavy destroyers. Of course most of these ships were about to try and fire upon a couple of damaged GDI destroyers until several hundred of GDI's Crossbow missiles impacted the ships. Eventually, all but two of the battlecruisers of the remaining ships were disabled and now beginning to move through space due to the momentum of their engines before they were taken down. They were now helpless from fire from either human force.

"Captain, we have another Slipspace signature coming up next to us." Roland said aloud.

"Well, looks like the new ship is here Ma'am." Lasky said. "Now to see how powerful the Forerunner based weapons are from Facility 05." Facility 05 was the name given by the UNSC to the place where they had found Miranda and Noble Team. While the medical facilities were impressive, they soon discovered that the base had a dockyard in which they could make a ship that could use Forerunner weaponry. While it would be quite expensive to make, the Huragok engineers that were at the base were quite capable to help in the construction. Therefore, it was chosen to build a small ship and see how effective it could be in combat before the UNSC would go on to construct them in more numbers.

So a small frigate sized ship was constructed, one that could fight alongside the current Strident and Anlace-Class Frigates.

From the Slipspace portal emerged a sleek looking ship. While it had the same streamlined design as the more modern frigates, it had it's main body raised above the side wings of the ship. It's bridge was short and squat, but armored to take fire and the body resembled the Paris-Class Frigate but had gunmetal gray segments over a darker gray structure. As for an armament, it had what looked like a MAC cannon, but it looked far more advanced then anything the UNSC currently had. They also had several Mark 55 coilguns on the hull along with upgraded M870 Rampart CIWSs (which had become helical guns), providing it with a heavier amount of fire then the Strident along with two glowing blue point defense weapons that were actually Forerunner weapons. (Think the looks the Triton-Class frigate made by calamitySi on DeviantArt)

This was the new Forward Unto Dawn-Class Super Heavy Frigate, named after the ship that was the catalyst of the final battle of the Human-Covenant War. The first UNSC ship that had use Forerunner weapons alongside UNSC weaponry. This ship would no doubt prove to be the stating point for the UNSC to get Forerunner weaponry in its arsenal but would still be several years to a few decades off.

"Captain, we're being hailed." The comms officer spoke up.

"Patch it through." Miranda said.

 _"Infinity, this Captain Evelyn Summers of the UNSC Forward Unto Dawn II. Care to explain the situation I'm seeing?"_ The young captain of the ship spoke up.

" _Forward Onto Dawn II,_ what your seeing is the remains of a Covenant armada that was attacking the golden colored ships your seeing on your right. Long story short, they're friendly and even with the Forerunner weapons you have, maybe would be the best idea to not pick a fight with them. Sending data right now to your ship to the disabled ships that you can destroy." Miranda said with a slight smirk.

A few seconds passed until Captain Summers spoke up once again. _"Data received Captain, engaging enemy ships now."_

The advanced frigate soon flew ahead of the UNSC task force as the two battlecruisers saw the new ship fly towards them. The Sangheili Shipmasters recognized the point defense weapons and the glowing blue energy flowing through the ships and realized it was the technology of the Gods. Enraged, the Shipmasters yelled at their crews to fire their glassing beams at the ship in order to destroy the humans for even desecrating the technology of the Gods for their own ships. The two beams hit the small ship, but the ships glowing blue shields held firm due to them being the much more powerful Forerunner energy shields as opposed to the ones used by the Covenant.

The ship's front soon glowed as dozens of upgraded Archer missiles flew from the ship towards the Covenant capital ships. The ship's point defense weapons began to fire, however, the newer Archer missiles were much faster only about 15 where destroyed by the weapons as the rest slammed into the battlecruisers, draining their shields faster the Storm could have realized as the one closer to the UNSC frigate took more of the missiles and lost their shields. The new _Forward Unto Dawn II_ was able to fire upon the closer ship with its coilguns, explosions dotting the hull of the Battlecruiser as the rounds punched through the hull of the ship.

The main weapon in the ship soon began to charge up as another stream of missiles flew from the _Dawn II_ and further tore apart the damaged battlecruiser as several more shots from the coilguns finally hit the ship's core and caused it to blow up completely. The second battle cruiser fired several plasma torpedoes at the _Dawn II_ , but the Forerunner point defense weapons came on and glowing blue energy bolts fired off and destroyed the on-coming projectiles. Eventually, the ship's main weapon was finished charging as the ship blasted a slug at luminary speeds towards the enemy ship.

While the UNSC had done great advances in terms of increasing the power of their MAC cannons, the weapon the new _Dawn II_ used was far stronger then that. It was in fact a light mass fusillade array, a MAC cannon that was designed and used by the Forerunners. It's striking power was far more then a MAC round used on a ship of the same class, with it only matched by the MAC cannons on the _Infinity_. The slug crossed the distance in the blink of an eye as the Covenant ship's shields lit up, but eventually broke due the drain from blocking the earlier Archer strikes as the shields bloke down and the round went through the ship's front and destroyed it.

A few seconds after the destruction of the ships, a small flight of Seraph fighters appeared from the debris that were being chased by several UNSC fighters as they flew past the _Dawn II._ The two hanger bays on the ship soon had four Longswords fly out of them towards the fleeing enemy fighters. These were among the newer GA-TL2 Longsword, the most mass produced fight in the Post-War UNSC arsenal. They were the C712 variant of the fighter which had up to 8 M9109 ASW/AC 76mm coilguns which were scaled up versions of the 35mm guns used by the Sabre fighter and 8 ASGM-10 missiles. This allowed the fighter to easily deal with whatever Covenant fighters it fought against was the weapons could easily destroy them in dogfights and the newer engines allowed the newer model Longswords to keep up with Seraphs in terms of performance. All four Longswords fired up to four missiles each which caused the Covenant fighters to try and dodge the missiles or try and fire upon the incoming munitions. While three of the missiles were taken out by lucky shots, the remaining seven flew on and destroyed all but three fighters. The newer Longswords easily closed the distance as their eight 76mm automatic coilguns on each fighter was able to send a river of lead at the enemy fighters which overwhelmed the enemy's shields as they managed to take out the remaining fighters within two seconds of getting into gun range.

Miranda couldn't help but grin at the sight of the larger Covenant ships being effectively decimated by the small UNSC-Forerunner ship. There was no doubt that the Forerunner weapons would no doubt be able to make the UNSC more powerful over the course of a few decades once they were able to produce the weaponry in large numbers to equip their ships for combat. The easiest piece of technology that Neutral Observer said was the best technology that they could produce quickly. That would have to do as the Forerunner shields were better than the Covenant shields as they were better against energy weapons then the latter.

Soon, a familiar voice sounded over the comms.

 _"Olympus to Infinity,"_ Admiral Raven spoke, _"I'm guessing the small ship that took out the Covenant capital ships is a prototype that your people are working on?"_

"That's correct Admiral Raven, it's a test bed for future weaponry that the UNSC could use on our ships." Miranda said. The tone in Raven's voice gave away the hint that the GDI admiral was interested in the power of the Forerunner based weaponry. While she expected that GDI would be taken aback by how powerful they were, but it seemed he wasn't as shocked as she thought. It maybe possible that GDI's weapons are still effective enough to keep up with the Forerunner tech or they could be trying to find ways for them to counter the new unknown technology that the UNSC had in their possession.

 _"I see..."_ Raven said with a focused tone as he probably is paying a bit more attention to the new ship. _"Well, we'll finish off the last of the enemy ships now. It is only fair since we fought the Covenant first and we'll finish these x-rays off."_

"On right on ahead Admiral, your people fought them off and did the most damage. They're all yours." Miranda said as the _Infinity's_ scanners detected the energy build up from the GDI fleet.

 _"Thanks Captain, we'll be taking out the trash now."_ Raven said as he cut the transmission. A few seconds later, a few dozen Ion beams fired forward as the GDI ships fired forward as the beams crossed the distance between both fleets as the beams compacted the ships and blasted them to pieces. At last, after the loss of over ten ships and the deaths of hundreds if not thousands of sailors, GDI along with the UNSC Battlegroup that had shown up had finally destroyed the Covenant armada. There was no doubt that after this battle, the Storm and any other Covenant Remnant group would be shaken by this revelation that a new force of humans had appeared with far more powerful weapons then the Covenant at their height wouldn't have come close to being able to fight.

Miranda now turned her head towards the CAS assault carrier that the supersoldiers were now fighting on. ' _Hope you guys complete your mission before Madma tries to pull a fast one and escapes.'_ She thought to herself.

* * *

 **Meanwhile, on the _Song of Retribution_**

"Well looks like they got smart enough to deploy some of their vehicles to deal with us." Ethan said as the joint force came under fire from a couple of mobile Wraiths.

After fighting through a few more rooms and killing dozens upon dozens more Covenant soldiers, the joint UNSC-GDI group were able to get deeper into the ship along with taking out any remaining aircraft so that way Madma couldn't find a way to fly off of the ship if he got the chance. The Anthems had helped clear any major barricades that the Covenant had set up, their heavy firepower tearing apart enemy units easily (including Hunters as they needed to use the heavier weapons in order to deal with the heavily armored alien constructs). However, while the robots were in fact making sure their shots always counted as the Hellfire X missile and 80mm rockets at enemy units and made sure they made contact for the best effect, they were running out of missiles and rockets. They did however, still have a good amount of rounds for their recoiless rifles and grenade launchers as they kept up the vast amount of fire as the supersoldiers continued to deal with the hundreds of enemies that were trying to kill them before they could reach Madma.

A couple of Legionaries had taken danger close shots from the Wraiths as while their shields held against the plasma mortar, they were thrown a bit away as they then took fire from a pair Jackals using Beam rifles. While they weren't wounded, they did need a few seconds to recover from that blast which meant that the others had to pick up the amount of fire they were sending towards the enemy tanks. One of the Anthems even took a shot from a Wraith that was thankfully absorbed by their ERA blocks which prevented the robot from being destroyed as it fired another of its Hellfire X missiles at the enemy tank. The missile was easily able to destroy any of Neo Nods tanks and some of the Scrin's medium sized combat walkers with a direct hit to a vital area. The Covenant tank took the missile on its front as it was completely obliterated from the front as the rest of the tank was dropped on the ground with the power taken down.

Mike opened fire with the modified SPNKr rocket launcher on the other one, the guidance system steering the missile to its target. The Wraith was badly damaged by the first shot as it slowed down due to the damage which caused it to be fired upon by Jun who had a Spartan Laser at the vehicle to finish it off. More Elites appeared as a few Spectres and Revenants appeared as they fired their weapons at the group. The Anthems opened fire with their Hellfire X missiles towards the enemy vehicles as the Covenant forces were being pushed back. Havoc, Jackal, Kaze, Raider, and a few more close combat specialist Centurions and Legionaries as they managed to close in with several Elites and clashed with them. Fusion weaponry clashed with energy blades as the GDI super commandos were put in a deadly dance of blades with the tall aliens as the other GDI soldiers along with the Spartans kept up their fire and suppressed any aliens that were getting close to them.

Jackal shot a charged shot from his GD-15 at an Elite fighting one of the Legionaries who was using a pair of Shortswords as he was fighting the tall being. Jackal fired the blast with not only took out the enemy's shields but also knocked the Sangheili off balance as well. The Legionary then managed quickly cut off the arm of the Elite and followed up with cutting off its head. Jackal smirked under his helmet as he then blocked an incoming strike from an Elite Zealot, which he began to block as he kept up with the experienced alien swordsman. He switched to his second fusion blade as he quickly began to keep up with the Zealot as they clashed.

Raider quickly dodged another Elite Zealot's swing as he quickly jumped over the alien. He then spun in midair and fired his shotgun at another Elite as his AA-24 blasted at the enemy with the force of a jackhammer as he was using high explosive rounds to quickly take out the enemy's shields. He then quickly blocked an attack from the first Elite with his Greatsword as he managed to react in time. He then exchanged the alien in a series of slashes as he then parried the next blow and used his boosters to knock-back the alien which opened up an opportunity to slash at the Sangheili which brought down the shields. He then quickly followed up with a diagonal slash down the chest area, where the fusion blade's sharpness proved easily able to cut through the armor.

Kaze dispatched another Elite Zealot with a fast stab to the head which pierced through their brain. He then pivoted around another Elite's strike and quickly drew his SMG and opened fire at close range on the enemy. He was able to quickly take down the shields, but due to the close proximity he was forced to sheath his katana and sideroll as he quickly drew his wakizashi blade, as he slashed the Elite's throat with a backhanded slash that cut through most of the neck and causing some blood to spray onto his armor. He then saw the Elite had a couple of plasma grenades as he quickly took them from the corpse and armed them as he tossed them at two Elites who were attacking Havoc as his fusion blades moved like blurs to block them and two others. The plasma grenades stuck as they exploded and took out the shields allowing Fang and Jun to pick off the Elites which allowed Havoc to use his GD-14 as he boosted away and ran on the walls while firing away. He quickly took down one of the Sangheili as he then switched it to its grenade launcher mode and fired one off as he boosted off of the wall dodging a couple of Jackals.

Emile and Fred then fired their weapons off as they got closer and took down the alien's shields in short order. Emile used his new M45 and blasted away as he then used his booster pack to jump above the Sangheili's swing and quickly drew his kukri knife and drove it into its skull. Fred then quickly dodged his Elite as he put away his M739 SAW and drew both of his combat knives and slashed away at the Elite. The Spartan's mastery of hand to hand combat became apparent as his blows quickly drained the shields and landed a few crippling blows to the alien before slashing its throat wide open. He then pulled off a plasma grenade and tossed it another Elite Zealot as it was attacking a Spartan IV who was using a Humbler Stun Device to block their attacks and tossed it at the alien. The Sangheili noticed that the grenade was stuck to the back of his shoulder but before he could do anything, Fred quickly drew his Magnum and fired a round at the explosive, setting it off and wounding the alien which allowed the Spartan IV to quickly knock the alien down and finished it off with a shot from his own Magnum.

A couple more Wraiths and several Revenants showed up and opened fire with their weapons as one of the Anthems had been prioritized and was taking damage. It was able to fire off several 80mm rockets with took out up to three Revenants and fired two of its remaining three Hellfire X missiles at the Wraiths as the Covenant vehicles were taken out. However, a few more Wraiths popped up and fired upon the damaged Anthems as it fired off its last Hellifre missile and several more rockets. The powerful robots was soon hit by three plasma mortar rounds and exploded, the remaining ammunition it had exploding and causing a large smokescreen that thankfully helped a few of the supersoldiers get back into cover as two of the Wraiths were taken out as kills from beyond the grave.

"Damn! Havoc we we're starting to take losses here!" Ethan yelled as he fired at a Jackal who was aiming at another Legionary who had taken a blast from a couple of Fuel Rod blasts and was taking on a couple of Elites as he was put off balance as they pressed the attack. Ethan was able to switch to his ion sniper rifle and took out the Jackal's shield which allowed Jaeger to put a 14.5mm slug through its head as he then switched to firing at the Elites which surprised them as to how their shields were taken down so quickly which allowed the Legionary to counterattack and kill his opponents.

Sorceress, also known as Captain Katelyn Lincoln then sent a massive shock of lighting towards the Sangheili that were still fighting the GDI soldiers up close as they screamed in pain as they lost their shields and were being electrocuted. However, Fang quickly popped off a few of them quickly so Havoc and the others could go back to taking on and avoiding fire from the Covenant vehicles. A few of them fired on another Anthems as it took heavy damage from several heavy plasma shots and a couple of plasma mortar rounds. The Anthems didn't go down fully as it fire its last two Hellfire X missiles and took out two Revenants and its recoiless rifle destroyed another one.

However, Ethan got the Anthems to focus fire on the vehicles with their recoiless rifles and 80mm rockets, turning several of the vehicles to scrap along with the fire from UNSC and GDI rocket launchers. Then three of the Anthems fired several EMP grenades at groups of Jackals and Elites taking down their shields as the snipers took them out with headshots. Soon enough, the number of remaining Covenant forces dropped greatly as they had managed to get to the last main room prior to the bridge.

"We have them on the run people! Let's keep it up!" Palmer yelled to the two Spartan IV Fireteams who were closest to the fleeing alien forces. The IVs, yelling at the top of their lungs at victory soon began to follow her as they wanted to prove to the new humans that they were just as good as they were if not better. Of course their was also another reason for it, the enemy was in fact falling back in complete disorder, it didn't look to be a trap due to it looking too realistic to be a fake rout. This meant that if they kept up the pressure, they could keep up the momentum and get to Madma before they could reform and set up a stronger defense.

"Palmer don't follow them! It must be a trap!" Carter yelled as he had to dodge another Fuel Rod blast.

However, it was too late. Several plasma mortar rounds fell upon the group of IVs that followed Palmer as they were tossed around and had their shields drain as some of the remaining Elites fired their Storm rifles and managed to land several fatal hits on a few of the downed IVs taking out their shields as several of them were killed with a few were shot in the head with killed them instantly along with two were shot in the chest and the rest were badly wounded. A group of Hunters then fired at another Anthems which had lost almost all of its ERA blocks on its right leg as the weight of fire brought it down as it fired a streamed of HEIAP rounds at one of the Hunters which broke down its armor and shredded the worms that made up the large being.

Not only that, but several of their own soldiers were killed as well. No doubt due in large part as they were seen as necessary sacrifices to kill some of the enemy and the cowards that were fleeing were expendable in the eyes of the Storm leaders.

"Dammit!" Carter swore under his breath.

Havoc then turned too another Centurion, this one with images of angels drawn onto her suit along with a purple cross on the side of her helmet. "Angel, can you see if the Spartans that didn't get their heads blown off still have any brain function?"

Alyssa "Angel" Cain, one of the best medics in the Centurion program soon scanned the downed IVs in order to see if any of them could be recoverable. Much like Havoc, she had her own AI that would help her in both seeing the extent of the damage taken by soldiers from enemy fire and the proper way to repair it and fully heal the soldier. Her AI was named Panacea, after the Ancient Greek Goddess of the universal cure which fit especially with how far GDI's medical tech had come about in recent years.

"Sir, they can still be saved. I had Panacea scan them for brain function and the ones who were killed are still well within range of being brought back." Angel said after a couple of quick scans on the dead Spartans.

"Then you had better make sure you brought enough of the you know what." Havoc said to the medic. He then turned to the other GDI soldiers as some of them pulled out smoke grenades. Havoc knew that they needed an opening to rush in and get the dead and dying Spartans out of the way of fire so they could be brought back due to something that GDI had taken from a secret Scrin site they had found during the Sixth Scrin War, something that had lead to the impossible and would have been considered magic.

"Pop smoke!" Havoc yelled as they tossed their grenades into the open area and obscured the vision of the Covenant forces. Ursa and other Zone Commandos opened fire with their heavy Gatling guns, laying down heavy fire to keep the alien's heads down as Ethan had three Anthems move in guns blazing and shredding any aliens with overwhelming firepower as those armed with rocket launchers fired cluster missiles at several groups of Jackals and Elites as they were taken out. Soon Kaze and a few more Centurions then dashed out as they grabbed the wounded and dead Spartans as they kept dodging enemy fire as they got back to their lines.

John stopped firing at the aliens as he looked at the group of GDI supersoldiers as they laid them out. A few of their soldiers along with a few Spartans were treating their wounds. However, he saw one of the Centurions speaking with the Spartans about how administer something to the dead Spartans. "What's going on? Why are you arguing with the medics about the dead Spartans?"

"Chief, I have something that could save them if you can get me to insert this." Angel said as she brought up a special syringe gun with a dark blue liquid in the case. "I can't insert this into them with their armor blocking me from helping them out."

"What do you mean? They're already dead and there's no way to bring them back." Chief spoke with a serious tone in his voice.

"Please Chief, I know what I'm doing and this can work." Angel spoke urgently. "Just give me a chance."

Chief thought her a second until Cortana spoke up. "It's worth a shot John, Logan said to me that they have technologies that could even surprise the Forerunners. If they can pull off something that impossible and somehow it works, may as well give them a chance."

John sighed as he shook his head. He then turned to the Spartans that were working on the wounded Spartans including a wounded Palmer, "Take of their helmets, if they can bring them back may as well attempt it."

The Spartan IVs looked at each other with confusion apparent behind their masks, they followed orders and opened up the dead Spartans helmets as they took them off. Angel nodded towards the Chief as she then inserted the fluid into their dead bodies. While some of he IVs were looking at the Centurion with skeptical thoughts in their minds, Angel ignored it as she put in a new syringe filled with the liquid and inserted it into the other Spartan. Angel then removed it and put it away as she pulled out a couple more syringes as she nodded in thanks to the Chief as she then went to help out the wounded Spartans.

Fred then slid in next to the Chief as the Covenant's fire picked back up with the smoke clearing. "Are you sure that was a good idea sir?"

"We'll see soon enough." Chief said as he got back to firing on the Covenant forces. While this was happening, he couldn't help but wonder what was the substance the Centurion injected into the dead Spartans. As the other IVs slipped back on their helmets, they were starting to get updated data on their fallen brothers but didn't look into it as they were needed to help fight off the enemy.

Soon, the Anthems opened fire with their remaining Hellfire missiles which took out several Wraiths, Revenants, and a few Spectres as more were destroyed via 80mm rockets which saturated them with several of the missiles being Thermobaric warheads which easily took out the alien forces. However, the amount of fire coming from different directions caused the Anthems to take fire that took out most of their ERA blocks and causing damage that broke down their armor as they kept killing many enemies as possible with their grenade launchers and Gatling guns.

Two of the Anthems were badly damaged as they got closer to the incoming alien forces. However, while the aliens thought they were acting faulty as they took too much damage and were malfunctioning. However, Ethan had sent those two out, knowing full well that they were going to be destroyed so he figured they could take out as much of enemy units before they are destroyed. However, there was another reason for why he was sending them at the aliens. They charged forward as they took out a few more Revenants and even a couple of Ghosts that wanted to ram them and the joint force but were quickly taken out, more damage being inflicted on them as their systems were blaring that their structures were in danger of collapse.

Then once they stomped over the barriers that many Grunts were using and with several Hunters that were now charging at them with a few ramming them down, Ethan activated a command of the two large robots.

Then, in a blink of an eye they exploded, both their installed bombs and the remaining ammo caused large explosions that took out the Hunters that were closest to it as the shockwave knocked down all of the Grunts that were either several feet away or up to few yards away. The Anthems had installed into them explosive devices that had the explosive force of a 250 pound bomb that could take out light tanks and damage even medium tanks. This decreased the amount of fire that was being fired at the joint force as the remaining Anthems opened fire on the other forces surrounding the supersoldiers taking more of them out as they pushed forward

"DEMONS! SEIZE YOUR LITTLE STRUGGLE!"

The Spartans and GDI commandos looked to see a group of Sangheili walk up to the platform above them as what appeared to be several Spec Ops Elites surrounding a Sangheili who didn't have a helmet on him, showing off the scar over his right eye and had dozens of UNSC dog tags on his left shoulder. Soon more Covenant soldiers appeared with a big number of Shade Turrets and the usual plasma turrets with several Sangheili manning them. Then more Wraiths and Spectres appeared with their weapons aimed at the joint force and their pilots ready to fire down upon them once the command is given.

Carter looked up to see the Sangheili that yelled out to them. "Chief, that's Gek 'Lhar Madma's second in command. He must have planned to take us out before we could get to his boss."

"What's wrong Demons? No longer going to advance and kill all of my forces?" Gek snarled at the Spartans and allies. "Thanks to your new Demons and the new human forces, you have destroyed a large part of the Didact's Hand's force, setting us back for an untold amount of time. However, don't believe that you may yet win this fight as we will take the technology of the Gods and restart the Great Journey."

Havoc then spoke up, "Oh really? So you and your delusional leader can continue the slaughter of this universe's humanity? I don't think so pal. Since you ended up attacking and killed no doubt hundreds of GDI personnel, once word of this gets back to our High Command, your little splinter group's day's are numbered. No one attacks GDI without paying the price, and that is the destruction of your entire force unless you finally surrender."

The Spartans (with the exception of Chief) were surprised to hear what the Centurion Captain just said aloud. While there was the idea of Multiverse Theory that did say there was other universes out there, no one really could say if it was true. While the Forerunners and Precursors may have had the technology to do such a things, it was only a theory as no one in the UNSC had discovered if it was true or not. To hear it being said by Havoc was a confirmation of the idea that Cortana and a few of the UNSC officers had but it was still surprising.

"Oh? Do you believe you are in any position to talk human?" Gek said as the Sangheili around him took aim at supersoldiers. Of course, the UNSC and GDI soldiers knew from their IFF indicators that surprisingly a good amount of the Elites piloting the vehicles and manning the turrets were in fact the friendlies they were told about. So they knew that once the chance came, the Storm Covenant would be taken by surprise. "I have the upper hand now, and even your shields cannot hold forever. I would suggest lowering your weapons and accept your death."

Chief then walked up, seeing that most of the aliens were training their weapons on him as he aimed his rifle at Gek. "Not happening."

Gek stared at Chief as he then turned to face Vrilz. "I believe you wished to be the one to give the order to fire?" He then gestured to the Sangheili Spec Ops soldier with his arm. "You may have the chance to do so Vrilz."

The Sangheili nodded as he walked forward to the group, seeing that several more of his fellow undercover brothers who were positioned behind the group that Gek was leading and nodding to him as well. He then showed himself in clear visibility to the UNSC and GDI soldiers knowing that the IFF data they had would no doubt tell them that he is on their side. He then brought up his right hand into the air, part of the signal to attack the Storm at the last minute. He noticed the one known as Master Chief look directly at him and gave him a nod that confirmed that he knew what was going to happen. Vrilz gave the Elite equal to a smirk as he bent inwards two of his fingers and left the other one out as he turned his wrist to the right.

It was much like a human giving a thumbs-up, something he had learned from a few humans he had worked with in the past. It was also the signal to the undercover Elites as those on the turrets and the vehicles soon pointed their guns at the closest Storm units and those that had primed their grenades when he raised his arm tossed them at nearby Zealots and any that were the most dangerous.

Then all hell broke loose.

The rounds fired by the vehicles friendly Elites slammed into other vehicles and enemy units, causing them to explode as the joint UNSC-GDI force opened fire with their anti-vehicle weapons. Sangheili that were part of Vrilz's group then opened fire on the Storm with all their weapons, including several heavy weaponry as they cut down those closest to them. Plus those that were in turrets turned them to those in their line of sight killing dozens of them.

"What is happening!?" Gek yelled as more of his fellow Elites died around him as several Vrilz's soldiers stabbed a number of his own Sangheili with their energy swords as they also fired with their Plasma Repeaters. He then drew his own energy sword as he then reacted to a swing from Vrilz, barely blocking the swing.

"What are you doing!? You were supposed to kill the enemies of the Gods!" Gek yelled.

Vrilz then chuckled, "I am Gek, I am killing the enemies of the Gods. But they aren't the humans, they are you and the remaining Covenant factions!" He then spun around quickly as the two entered a clash of blades.

"Traitor!" Gek yelled.

John along with Blue and Gray Teams charged forward at high speed quickly gunning down any of the Covenant Storm that were in panic and confusion at the sudden backstabbing the friendly Elites gave to them. Kelly zoomed on ahead, drawing out two of the new M8 PDWs that were designed to act as a replacement for the M7 as she ran at full speed reaching up to 62 miles per hour which took several of the GDI soldiers by surprise. Linda and Adriana aimed down their Spartan Lasers and opened fire on nearby groups of Grunts and Jackals that were starting to shoot at the charging Spartans. Noble Team and Hunter Team then spread out, opening fire and supporting the Elites as the Anthems then moved forward and opened fire again.

Havoc and several of the Centurions then used their built in jetpacks to launch up into the air as they laid waste to any units that were still standing. Jackal, Bang, and several of the Commandos firing away with their grenade launchers as they took out groups of Grunts, Jackals, and Elites with using a combination of EMP and HE grenades. Ursa and a few of the Zone Commandos then boosted forward as they used their heavy melee weapons as they joined the fight. Fusion battleaxes, halberds, hammers, and even glaives were swinging around as the Zone Commandos's incredible strength allowed them to cut down Grunts and Jackals with ease and even manage to cut into the armor of Hunters as large aliens were taking too much fire from the friendly Elites firing on them with their vehicles.

However, despite the chaos caused by the friendly Spec Ops, several of them were falling as the more rational and veteran of the Elites were beginning to clash and began to kill some of the Spec Ops soldiers. One of them was killed by a dying Hunter firing its Fuel Rod Cannon before it finally died as the round bounced and nailed the Elite in its head which took down its shields as an enemy Jackal shot its Covenant carbine and killed the alien with a headshot. Another was crushed by one of the few remaining Hunters as it tackled it down and smashed its head in with its large shield arm.

Raider landed near a groups Elites that were fighting a couple of Storm Zealots that were bulked up on steroids as they wielded two of their unique energy swords. He drew out his knifes as he charged at the nearest opponent as two Legionaries had caught up with him. They charged at the enemy Zealots with their melee weapons out as Raider tackled the first one down as he began slashing at it to drain its shields. The two legionaries swung their blades against the other Zealot as they entered a clash of blades along with a couple of friendly Elites. The four fighters quickly put the Zealot on the backfoot, his heavier bulk managing to be a hindrance as he tried to use a much more defensive minded style of fighting as they used their increased strength to push back the regular Sangheili. Raider was able to drop his opponents shields as the alien pushed him off it got back up.

The Centurion then dodged a downward stab that the Sangheili tried to drive its blade into him. He then quickly threw one of his knives at the alien as it damaged its shields as he then pulled out his greatsword and swung it blocking the bulked up alien's swing. He then entered a blade clash as he switched between quick strikes with his knife and powerful swings with his

However, a scream came from one of the Legionaries as they took a couple of Fuel Rod cannon shots that knocked him down and allowed the Zealot to cut down his shields. However, the other Legionary was able to toss a explosive disk at the enemy alien which knocked it off balance and stabbed the legionary close to his stomach. The Sangheili then shook its head as it roared at the enemy but was then taken by surprise as Noble Six (who had chosen to follow the GDI soldiers up) then appeared from above due to his modified jetpack as he fired at the enemy with his assault rifle. He then pulled out a combat knife as he descended and stabbed his blade into the Sangheili's skull. He then jumped off and fired a grenade from his assault rifle at a group of incoming Grunts.

The Legionary soon helped his comrade up as he opened a canister of medical nanobots which began to heal up the wound. They both looked to the Spartan, "Thanks Spartan, we owe you one." the one standing said.

Arron nodded as he turned to Raider who was pulling out his AA-24. "You people have skill, for taking on the Covenant as well as you are."

"Noted." Raider said as he went off to support the friendly Sangheili.

Ursa meanwhile was helping another Zone Commando that had a few old Norse runes painted on his armor in dealing with a Hunter that was blasting away at a three Spartan IVs that were engaging a group of Covenant Sangheili. Ursa swung his axe to cut through its armor as the other Zone Commando that was using a hammer that he was swinging as he was breaking apart its armor. The other Zone Commando focused on its arm as it ended up being broken up enough to allow Ursa to cut through it's shield arm, causing the alien to scream in pain.

"Allow me Ursa." The hammer wielder said aloud.

"Ha ha! On ahead Berserker! I'll help some our new alien friends." Ursa said as he tossed a couple of EMP grenades at a group of Elites that were charging at a group of friendly Sangheili along with Hunter Team assisting them. Lucy and Tom opened fire with their MA5D and BR85 respectively as they took down a few of the aliens as they focused on their heads, draining their shields quickly as they began to fall. However, the Elites kept on coming as one of them threw a plasma grenade at a Spartan IV that was firing at them with with their M8 PDW but took the plasma grenade which launched them back. Then the EMP grenades exploded which shutdown their shields allowing the Spartans to bring down the tall aliens quickly.

Berseker then dodged the enraged Hunters charge by using his built in boosters to dash to the side and dodge the attack.

Rosenda then reloaded her LMG as she then unleashed a stream of lead at an incoming group of Grunts as they were torn apart as those few that had plasma grenades in their hands dropped them as they exploded killing more of them. Kevin then opened fire with his rifle grenade launcher as the round exploded above a Hunter that was fighting a friendly Elite which disoriented it, allowing the quick Sangheili to move behind the large alien and slash across its back. He then opened fire on a Jackal that had nailed a Centurion with a lucky shot from its Beam Rifle, shooting off its shield before firing another burst which killed it.

However, an enemy Spec Ops soldier tried to sneak up on Lucy as she was firing away. It moved in, moving as quietly as possible and drew out his sword as it was about to attack Lucy. Unfortunately, both her and Tom noticed a slight shimmer which was able to allow them to react and aim their weapons at the Elite.

However, much to the surprise of Spec Ops Elite a burst of bullets impacted it as its cloaking shield dropped. Both Lucy and Tom then opened fire as it brought down the alien's shield and blasted its head off. They then looked to where the shot had come from as much to their shock, one of the two Spartans that had been shot dead in the chest had aimed his assault rifle before he collapsed to his knees. The other one was also back up and aimed down his pistol as one of his fellow IVs was propping him up on his shoulder as fired.

Another badly damaged Anthems charged against a trio of Hunters and as it collided with one of them, exploded vaporizing the first one and knocking back the other two. This allowed Fred to close the distance as he jumped over the large creature and slashed the back of the first one with his combat knives before it could swing its shield at him. The other got back up and charged at the Spartan II, but Fred easily dodged the attack as he put his knives away, drew his SAW, and fired at the exposed back of the Hunter, the stream of lead tearing apart its back as it fell dead. He then kicked away a Grunt at was trying to tackle him as it flew and knocked down several more Grunts. He then pulled out a frag grenade as he tossed it at two Elites dueling with an Elite Zealot which was putting them on the off foot due to its skill in combat. The grenade bounced until it clinked against the left foot of the Storm Elite as it exploded, taking down the shield as the two friendly Sangheili took down the enemy with one knocking its energy sword out of the way and the other stabbing its blade into its skull.

Another Anthems had in fact taken too much damage from a large concentration of fire from three Wraiths and three Revenants, which caused the robot to explode as it destroyed the robot of which the shockwave caused some of the supersoldiers to be shaken up a bit via the shockwave. Another Anthems opened up with a couple dozen of its rockets as it took down one of the Revenants and damaged two another as a burst of 37mm rounds destroyed the main weapon of two other Revenants. However, a Hunter had managed to get behind one of them and rammed it, causing the robot's weaken joints to give way and cause the robot to fall.

However, despite some of them taking revenge by killing some of the friendly Sangheili, badly wounding a few Spartan IVs and Legionaries (two of which had taken by surprise by enraged Hunters that had broken some bones in their bodies) and destroying some of the powerful robots, the Storm was still losing too many warriors too quickly.

As for Vrilz and Gek, the two were using their different fighting styles to their advantage. Gek's large size and increased muscle mass allowed him to use more force against the Sangheili traitor along with acting more like a mountain, standing tall against the quick attacks by the normal Elite. Vrilz on the other hand was moving much like the wind, his blade moving with speed and grace as he kept up the pressure on the Storm's second in command. Both of their shields were starting to be at dangerous levels due to the amount of attacks adding up quickly (granted they were glancing blows but they were quickly adding up). Vrilz wouldn't give up, he knew from learning under R'tas Vadum that any opponent had a weakness in their combat style and once found, it can be exploited to achieve victory. While Gek used his great muscles to land stronger blows against him, his bulk could be used against him if he was off balance.

"Stand still and accept your fate fool!" Gek yelled as he swung downward at the Spec Ops Elite. He was in quite an angered state of mind due to how events had been going for his forces and comrades. Vrilz had managed to throw his plan off as his forces were being reduced by the second as all three groups had completely turned things around from how he had planned it. While a few of the Demons were dead, they were only caused by lucky shots that destroyed their heads. It only infuriated him more as his forces were swept aside by this new faction while only taking the loss of around a dozen ships. Now they were so close to his leader having only a small guard with him and there was no doubt he could be overwhelmed.

This meant he needed to end this fight quickly as he began to swing even faster as it forced Vrilz to dodge more frantically. However, Vrilz wanted the Elite to rush the conclusion of battle which would allow him to get an advantage. He then pulled out a plasma grenade and hid it behind his back as he began to clash with Gek more as the larger Elite was using the momentum and power of his swings in order end the fight. He managed to get close enough to where he could place the grenade on his arm as Gek punched him away. However, the large Sangheili then saw the explosive as his eyes widened just as the grenade detonated. Gek's shields dropped as he staggered back as Vrilz rushed in and slashed him across the chest which the larger Sangheili barely dodged leaving a mark across he's armor.

He then followed up with a spin kick to Gek's head as the bigger Sangheili leaves a cut across his armor and a bit into his skin, causing blood to spill but not all that much.

Another explosion sounded as another badly damaged Anthems blew up which destroyed another Wraith and damaged another. This allowed one of the Spartans using the upgraded SPNKr rocket launcher to take out the enemy vehicle with a single shot and fired his remaining two missiles at a nearby Revenant and Spectre, blowing up both of them due to the power of the warhead.

"Keep pushing! Don't let up!" Carter yelled as he took down another Elite with his assault rifle as he took its energy sword and cut into the chest of another Elite while dodging its incoming attack. The remaining Spartans alongside the GDI supersoldiers soon pushed forward, firing everything they had as more of them kept dropping the enemy. The Tiberium Mutants reached out with their telekinesis and took several of the Storm's plasma grenades. They then armed them manually and then pushed them at a group enemy Elites while they were engaging Ursa, Berserker, Primal, and a couple of Legionary Zone Commandos. A couple of them were killed while the others lost their shields as this allowed the heavy fusion weapons were able to easily cut through their armor.

V'rak then ran forward with a few more Elites as they out-flanked a group of Elites that were fighting with Arron, Raider, and a couple of friendly Sangheili. He then drove his energy sword through the back of an enemy Sangheili as his fellow Elites followed suit or some that were firing with plasma repeaters as they took down a few shields which allowed their comrades to kill some of them more quickly. V'rak engaged another sword using Elite as he began to dance around his opponent, looking for the perfect opening he needed. The enemy Elite swung his blade in an upward diagonal slash which caused V'rak to pivot around as swing his blade hard enough to bring down the shields on the Sangheili as he jumped over its retaliation swing as he spun around and slashed the head of the Elite in half.

Another Anthems charged at the last Hunter pair as it slammed into the charging aliens which damaged its leg joints. However, Ethan acted quickly as he pressed the detonation control for that particular robots as it exploded, killing one of the Hunters and the other one barely surviving until it was taken out by a Spartan Laser.

Gek, angered by the traitor's actions and his pride hurt by the Sangheili's dirty trick was now pulling no punches as he then to renew his advance on Vrilz. However, Vrilz then drew out a second energy sword as he crossed his blades as he blocked the incoming swing as he entered a blade clash with Gek. Gek began to push down Vrilz as he gave the Sangheili equal of a sinister grin as he forced his blade down.

However, Vrilz then stopped pushing back as the large Sangheili over-exerted as he lost his balance. This allowed him to finally get through his shields as he then crossed his blades around Gek's neck.

"Now, join your fellow Covenant in the afterlife." Vrilz said he slashed his blades across as Gek's head fell to the ground, his body following after a couple of seconds.

V'rak then slashed off the head of another Elite as he approached his command and gave a standard Sangehili salute. "Sir, we have exterminated the last of the enemy. All that is left is doubt Madma's guard and the coward himself."

"Excellent work my friend, now is the beginning of the end of the Storm. Their bridge data will prove crucial to destroy the rest of Madma's forces."

Carter and Chief then approached the Sangheili, weapons down but still at the ready. "Commander Kuame I presume?" Carter said.

Vrilz then faced the Spartan and spoke, "I am he. I am glad to see that you Demons still possess the power and skill that made you so effective during the war." He then looked to Master Chief, "And I see that the greatest of you has returned as well. The Arbiter will be pleased to hear your return Master Chief."

"Understood. I take it the Arbiter has been dealing with other Covenant factions in the time I've been gone?" Chief questioned.

"Indeed. Factions like the Storm have caused no end of grief to Arbiter Vadamee. I suppose you haven't heard much of it, but the Arbiter wanted to deal with the factions directly within his space by himself. Those like the Storm that have been attacking your people though are allowed to be dealt with. I was part of a special group created by Fleetmaster R'tas Vadum himself in order to infiltrate and give important information to the UNSC in order to bring down the Storm both from the inside and outside."

"Glad to hear sir. We appreciate your work here in helping us." Carter spoke.

Vrilz nodded and turned to the approaching GDI soldiers. "I must ask though, who are these new arrivals? I saw their fleet decimate the armada before yours showed up with only a few ships destroyed with most their smaller ships. Plus their constructs were quite effective in battle and destroying our vehicles so effectively."

"They're part of a faction calling themselves the Galactic Defense Initiative or GDI for short. They're another human faction which was exploring a nearby wormhole that had appeared in their dimension. Supposedly, from the small talk I picked up along with what one of their AI has told Cortana they have lost half of their force and wish to speak with the UNSC in locating them."

Vrilz's eyes widened, "Did you say half of their force? By the Gods, they could've decimated more of the armada before your forces had even arrived." Vrilz couldn't help but wonder at this point at the power he had seen from this new faction, well beyond that of humanity during the war. If these newcomers had shown up and decided to assist the UNSC with fleets of these powerful ships, the Covenant would have lost and their home worlds would have suffered a horrifying end via the nuclear weaponry and powerful armaments of both parties.

Havoc, Raider, and Sorceress soon walked up to the Spartans and the Sangheili Spec Ops leader. "Commander A-259, we have our medics taking care of any wounded soldiers but we'll need to have help in seeing if our medical tech can work with the Elite's makeup."

Vrilz then spoke up, "I have a few Sangheili who are medical experts, they can assist your people in helping my warriors to recover."

Havoc, a bit taken aback at the sight of one of the aliens speaking to him and being friendly (remember the only aliens he had met up close had wanted to kill him) soon regained his composure and spoke up. "Understood there..."

"Spec Ops Officer Vrilz' Kuame, a pleasure to meet to meet you." He spoke while giving the Sangehili salute.

Havoc soon returned the gesture by giving a standard human salute. "Centurion Captain Havoc, leader of Fireteam Praetorian of the Galactic Defense Initiative."

Vrilz nodded, "It is quite strange to see another human faction. Is it true that you are not from this universe? That your boast to Gek wasn't a lie?"

"Yes, we aren't of this universe. We were sent as a exploration force to make contact with any new species that existed beyond the wormhole and hopefully start making relationships for trade and military purposes."

"I see," Vrilz said, "the Arbiter will no doubt be interested in this." He then turned to the Spartans, "Would it be possible that I can communicate with Sangheilios to speak to the Arbiter about this matter Commander?"

"I'll have to speak with Captain Keyes about it but I'll see what I can do." Carter said calmly.

"Many thanks Spartan." Vrilz said in a appreciative tone. He then turned to the Centurions, "I'll be sure to speak of your abilities in battle to the Arbiter, perhaps eventually making the chance to have negotiations in the future." There was no doubt that having a new ally could help the Arbiter's forces to deal with the sheer number of remaining Covenant factions. While Madma's forces were quite numerous compared to others, it would no doubt fracture at a later point in time so that they would end up weakening themselves among their squabbles and become easier to destroy in pieces. Not only that, but they could perhaps help the UNSC deal with the Insurrection factions that they've had to deal with for decades at this point and had been getting more numerous due to the anti-alien sentiment following the Human-Covenant War.

Havoc nodded in return. "Thanks, I hope both of our people can work together and know that you're not like the ones still helping the Covenant."

"Indeed Centurion, I hope it does go well." The Sangheili Spec Ops Officer spoke in a neutral tone.

"Well with that out of the way Captain," Carter said as he turned to face Havoc. "Care to explain how two of our Spartans which were dead due to the ambush are now alive again?" He said as he pointed to the two Spartan IVs that were being treated as a fixed Palmer began to take the four IVs that had their heads blown apart and removed their dog tags.

Angel then stepped up to speak as she held out one of her syringe guns. "Allow me Captain, you see this liquid in here? It's a special compound known NanoMiraculum, the second word being Latin for miracle. It's uses highly advanced nano-machines that are able to effectively bring dead the dead back to life. It was a compound we had discovered following the end of our most recent war against one of our two main enemies. Our scientists had studied the substance for a few years until it was shown to be safe for use by humans. Therefore, it became a priority for GDI to develop in order to help reduce the amount of fatalities that we suffer during combat."

"Of course, the compound only really works if the patients brain in still functioning. If they had received damage that shut down all brain function, they're dead for good. Now say, certain situations where the soldier received damage to the brain but still lived and some brain function can still be brought back. However, they'll need to undergo repair surgery and weeks to months of mental testing in order to get back to have a normal life or if they still wanted to serve could after more tests."

For once, even the Spartan IIs were surprised a bit. While the Forerunners had helped to bring back Miranda Keyes and Noble Team, they were only able to due to their advanced facilities and under the watch of the hyper-advanced AI. The fact their existed a substance that could bring the dead back to life if their brains were intact and could bring more soldier back home after a war wound no doubt be a major benefit if they got trade between both parties set up.

* * *

 **At the bridge**

"CURSES! I'LL HAVE THAT TRAITOR'S HEAD FOR WHAT HE HAS DONE!" Madma yelled at the top of his lungs.

He only had his usual guard of 8 with him, all of which were skilled sword users. However, while they had been able to kill a few of the newer Demons used by the humans that the original Covenant fought (which in his mind weren't as disciplined as the original Demons. True, while their technology made them have similar skills to the Demons that the Covenant had fought due to their armor boosting their abilities they lacked the incredible focus and determination that their predecessors had), they had lost practically all of their warriors.

Vrilz's betrayal had struck them hard as many of his warriors were among their best, capable of taking on many of the normal human soldiers and coming out on top in battle to claim their glory. He had planned on them assist Gek in killing the enemy Demons and the Constructs without mercy in order to exact revenge for the humiliation that his forces had suffered.

His remaining warriors readied their weapons at the door, ready to shoot on sight at the enemy once they blast open the doors.

Then a couple of seconds later the door exploded as hundreds of 37mm slugs flew out along with several sniper rounds which quickly took out the guards.

Then a second later, Spartans, Legionaries, Centurions, and Sangheili Spec Ops poured through the opening. All of them then aimed their weapons at the lone Elite who was drawing out his energy sword.

"It's over Madma, surrender now and you'll walk out of here without any injuries." Carter spoke to the Sangheili.

"I WILL NOT GIVE IN SO EASILY DEMON! YOU WILL PAY FOR THIS HUMILIATION, I SWEAR IT!" Madma said as he began to advance.

However, both Kelly and Jackal then ran forward, going at their fastest speeds as they closed the distance. Jackal then used his built in boosters to slam into the Elite with a force equal to a small car as Madma was knocked off balance. Then Kelly used her thruster pack to boost up and nail Madma with a strong drop kick to the face, knocking him down to the ground. Madma tried to swing his blade at his attackers but Jackal took out his fusion blade and swung it with both hands, knocking the weapon out of Madma's weakened grip as Kelly then clasped cuffs on Madma's arms as Jackal holds him down.

The fastest Spartan then looked to the Centurion and nodded. "Thanks for the help. You're not half bad in speed."

"Thanks, but that was impressive with your own sprint." Jackal said to her.

Vrilz and the remaining Sangheili Spec Ops then raised their clenched fists in the air as they yelled in victory. At long last, the leader of the largest Covenant Remnant was captured and humiliated. This would no doubt mark the beginning of a change in the overall fight as the Storm will no doubt begin to fracture after this.

"DAMN YOU! THIS WILL NOT HOLD ME AND ONCE I GET FREE OF THESE RESTRAINTS I'LL-" Madma yelled until he was interrupted by Kelly slamming her foot into his face, knocking out the fallen Sangehili faction leader.

Ethan then walked up to the main control station of the ship and plugged himself into the ship. "Okay, let's see just what they have in terms of space maps." He easily was able to crack the cyber defenses the Covenant had and began dumping information about Covenant ship schematics, weapons, and especially the maps of their territories.

"Bingo." Ethan said as he then turned to Havoc. "Sir, I have the data we need about the Storm's forces and territory. We should send this to Admiral Raven ASAP so we can get ready for a counterattack."

"Understood Ethan, send it to the _Olympus_." Havoc said he began to call in for transports to take them back. Ethan nodded as he also turned to Chief, "I'm also sending the info to you as well Cortana, consider it a gift form us to you."

"Thanks Ethan, we'll pass it on to the UNSC." Cortana said.

"117 to _Infinity_ , we have Madma in custody. Send the transports to bring us home." John spoke via his comms.

" _Roger that Chief, sending transports now. I heard about the fallen IVs and GDI's little miracle formula that can bring those with a fully intact head back from the brink. Diffidently something we'll have to speak with them about once talks formally begin between our parties."_ Miranda responded back. Now that the UNSC had gotten their hands on the one Sangheili who had been making it his goal to use the technology of the Forerunners to take revenge against the UNSC and the Swords of Sangheilios and restart the Great Journey, they could interrogate the alien to find out what he knows along with the chance that he knew about some hidden Forerunner structures.

 _'She's right, now it's time for us to learn the full story of our new allies.'_ John thought to himself. He then looked to Havoc who nodded at the legendary soldier.

It was finally time to get some answers as to what GDI was and how this whole thing happened in the first place.

* * *

 **Codex: MX Garand**

Magazine: 8 rounds (can be modified to take 12 rounds)

Caliber: .338 Laupa Magnum or 10mm tungsten slug

Rate of fire: 370 rpm

Bio: A new modern take on the iconic battle rifle of Great World War Two, the MX is used as a specialist weapon. It still has the classic look of the original rifle but made of new materials along with picatinny rails for attachments. It uses a special scope that was developed in Germany called the bombenschuss smart scope that can be detached and pushed to the side in order to insert a new clip into the magazine. It has a greater range then the GD-16 assault rifle due to its long barrel, allowing it to be used as a DMR when equipped with the scope. It was produced in honor of Karl Fairburne, a famous American Militia sniper who with his great-great grandfather's M1D Garand killed several dozens of Scrin during the Second Scrin War. He had even gone after several Scrin commanders who were leading the forces in the state, When GDI had found him in the Kentucky wilderness, he was then given the training needed to fight as a Commando, using both his old Garand and the GLS-70 sniper rifle to take out hordes of Scrin infantry. Sadly, he gave his life during the final battle of the war, managing to disable a Scrin tripod long enough for a group of Mammoth tanks to quickly take out the enemy vehicle before to was able to overwhelm a platoon of GDI soldiers who were on the edge to annihilation. In his honor, the MX was created and any who chose to take it into battle do so with the skill that would match the legendary sniper.

* * *

 **Codex: M41A1 SPNKr Rocket Launcher**

Number of missiles: 3

Cailber: 102mm missile

Range: up to 4 miles away (ground targets) or 6.5 miles away (air targets)

Bio: An upgraded and improved version of the classic SPNKr rocket launcher, the M41A1 is able to fire 3 missiles at 3 different targets or can fire all three at a single target in order to fully destroy it. Its warhead is much more powerful, able to take out Covenant Wraith tanks with a well placed shot at its weakpoint or two direct hits. It's motor was also improved, allowing the M41A1 to be more effective against Covenant Seraph fighters along with a much longer range. Another missile it is able to fire is the M20 cluster missile which is inserted into the three tubes and fired after achieving lock. It is then able to split into six missiles which can take out either ground or air based targets. While the added weight is a problem, the added missile has proven to be a lifesaver in some battles the UNSC had.

* * *

 **Codex: BR60 Battle Rifle**

Cailber: 7.62x51mm NATO

Rate of fire: 650 rpm

Magazine: 40 rounds

Variants: BR60C: Carbine version for close quarters

BR60IAR: Infantry Automatic Rifle version that can use a bipod and be fed with the same drum magazine as the M739 SAW or a 100 round Beta-C mag.

BR60 SOPMOD: Special Forces version with a suppressor and red dot sight or holographic sight.

BR60C SOPMOD: Special Forces version of the carbine.

Bio: While the MA5 series of assault rifles has proven itself time and time again, the high rate of fire has been an issue for regular infantry to use due to the recoil the weapon produces. It was chosen after the war to add new weapons to the UNSC arsenal that would not only equip all infantry, but also include specialist weapons for Spartans. Based on the BR55 battle rifle with the weapon turned into a flat top for attachment rails, the weapon is more manageable in full-auto. It is also able to use the M301 grenade launcher or the under-slung shotgun for close quarters, allowing the weapon options for tackling different missions. The soldier can use red dot sights, 4x tactical scopes, the UNSC smart scopes, etc for improving the weapons accuracy. It also is well liked among the ODSTs and Marines as its slower rate of fire makes it very manageable. It can also be equipped with different sights and barrels depending on the mission at hand for the soldier.

* * *

 **Codex: M8 PDW**

Caliber: 4.6x30mm

Rate of fire: 800 rpm

Magazine: 40 rounds

Variants: M8S: Special Forces variant for ODSTs with a suppressor and red dot sight.

M8C: Carbine version for use by Spartans for better use at duel-wielding.

M8B SMG: Variant designed to use overpressure round versions of the 45 ACP round

M8D: Experimental version with two barrels which uses Metal Storm technology and can be feed with an 80 round tube-like chamber magazine

Bio: While the M7 SMG had proven itself to still be effective during the Human-Covenant War, some in the UNSC wanted a harder hitting gun for ODSTs and other UNSC soldiers to use. It was chosen to go back in time to see about bringing back any previously used rounds from the past that could replace the 5mm round for better stopping power against Covenant forces. It was then chosen to use the old 4.6x30mm round, but was turned into an over-pressurized variant that been designed to give the round more striking power against enemy units. It has 1.5 times the power of the original round, allowing it to ware down energy shields down quicker and punch through Covenant body armor with greater ease but to compensate is uses a recoil buffer in the weapon to reduce the recoil of the round. It keeps the general look of the M7 but is larger to compensate for the larger round. There's also an SMG variant that fires over-pressured versions of the famous 45 ACP round for better stopping power, proving itself able to bring down Elites much quicker.

* * *

 **Codex: Nuclear MAC rounds**

Bio: During the reconstruction of the worlds devastated after the war, some in the UNSC wanted to see about improving the power of their ship's MAC cannons. While they would achieve higher velocities which added to the increased kinetic energy, another idea was to create a MAC round that could easily deplete energy shields quickly and completely destroy Covenant ships in a single shot. Therefore, some scientists in the UNSC poured resources into working on a project that conceived during the war that was to deal with the shields of the enemy. More then a year following the end of the war, the Mk 25 nuclear MAC round made its first appearance. It hollowed out the inside of the MAC round to place a large sphere of Uranium along with a small cylinder that was placed to fire into the sphere once the round made contact with the object the ship was firing at. It comes in a smaller version for use by Longsword fighters for improving their anti-ship capabilities and for ship in terms of taking out enemy ships quicker.

* * *

 **Codex:** **GA-TL2 Longsword-class Interceptor**

M9109 ASW/AC 60mm MLA (4) (standard)

115mm rotary cannons (C709 variant)  
2 twin barreled 125mm ventral guns  
ASGM-10 missiles (6)  
Shiva-class nuclear missile (1) (optional)

Fury-Class nuclear missile (2) (optional)

Moray space mine system (36) (optional)

Mini MAC

C712 variant

8 M9109 ASW/AC 76mm coilguns or 100mm helical railgun cannons  
8 ASGM-10 missiles

Hull: Titanium-A3 armor

Engine(s): Engine: Twin fusion reactors with FTL for short jumps.

Crew: humans or AIs

reverse engineered Covenant energy shield or human energy shield

Bio: After the Human-Covenant War, the UNSC had begun to get better access to the technology that the Covenant Separatists had on them. While the Sabre was becoming more mass produced, some in the UNSC sought to improve the venerable Longsword to better match up with Covenant Seraph fighters. The GA-TL2 is the first variant that is equipped with a energy shield and uses the newer Titanium-A3 armor which can allow it to take much more punishment then before. It is also the first UNSC fighter that is equipped with an Impulse FTL drive much like the Covenant fighters, allowing the fighter to make short ranged slipspace jumps to launch surprise attacks on unsuspecting enemies or for long range recon. The latter role is made easier due to improvements in reducing the RCS of the fighter to where Covenant ships would have to focus on their sensors in order to find it. It's armament is also far superior, using wither rapid fire coilguns or helical railguns which pack more hitting power than the Covenant War era Longsword, allowing the fighter to easily destroy Covenant Seraph fighters. The improved engines also allow for better thrust to weight ratios, allowing the fighter improved maneuverability. (think the smaller version of the Longsword from Halo Reach)

* * *

 **Codex: M320 Grenade Launcher**

Caliber: 40mm grenade

Magazine: 16 round revolver drum

Variants: M320A1: Shorter barreled variant for better handling

Bio: Originally a prototype weapon that was supposed to be mass produced during the later years of the Human-Covenant War, the M320 had only a few dozen built on Reach prior to the Covenant attack. When used by the Spartans and whatever unit was able to get its hands on it, the weapon proved effective as it was able to being effect heavy support fire against enemy targets and positions as they could blow apart any Covenant soldier besides the Brutes and Hunters in one shot. However, they were the only ones produced and information about them wasn't taken out of Reach prior to the UNSC fleeing the planet. After the war, it was chosen as one of the weapons to be mass produced and proved to be a favorite among assault teams and became a mainstay along with the M319 single shot grenade launcher for UNSC grenadier units. It uses a 2x smart scope that is able to help the shooter adjust for various factors and can be equipped with a handgrip for better handling. (Based on the heavier design concept art for the M319 from Halo Reach)

* * *

 **Okay guys, so in terms of dealing with the new UNSC weapons I'll try to get out as many as I can in a chapter. However, if I don't get to them here I will in the next chapter. Also, some of the weapons that will be used for the UNSC will be ones that I've drawn from or been inspired by Halo Fanon where I will give credit to the makers of those weapons as I was impressed with how they made them and hope that I draw attention for others to look at them.**

 **Now if you're wondering about the UNSC and GDI forces being too powerful right now, don't worry I'm planning for both a new Covenant faction to show up with stronger weapons and a certain faction getting some more powerful from some of those new weapons. So don't worry I'm planning for them to be more effective later in the story. Also, expect me to use a few weapons from the Crysis series for both the UNSC and GDI especially a certain SMG that I'll also be making into an LMG for fun.**

 **But yeah, now Madma is out of the picture and next time will be the start of negotiations and talks between the UNSC and GDI as both parties will begin to explain each others stories. I'll be mainly working on GDI's story as this is an AU so I'll need time to think about it so it works.**

 **Anyway hope you all enjoy this chapter and next time I'll be updating Remnant of Flames so please give that story a look if you can alright?**

 **This is Blazblade signing out!**


	7. Chapter 6: Negotiations

**Alright everyone, here's the main meeting between GDI and the UNSC. Just so you know, I'm going to probably summarize the histories behind both groups as to not have this go on for too long. However, I'll try my best to give as much detail as I can. Now the UNSC will be simpler as we already know about their history but for GDI it will include the usual cannon until Tiberium Twilight were things will have been somewhat altered and it will be mainly made up from my ideas until GDI's present day.**

* * *

Chapter 6: Negotiations

 **GDS Olympus**

"So the meeting will have to happen on the _Infinity_ Captain Keyes?" Raven said to the UNSC Captain on screen.

 _"I understand your concern about the whole thing Admiral, knowing if I was in the same situation that I would want to be on a ship where I knew I had more people on hand if anything bad were to happen."_ Miranda said. _"However, I want to hold the meeting as a friendly gesture since you managed to find Master Chief for us. So consider it a kind act on our part. Plus, there is also the fact we would want to include our Sangheili allies when possible. So our ship could communicate with them so they could speak to you directly.'_

Raven thought over the young captain's proposal. While he still did hold some reservations towards being on an unknown ship, she did bring up a few points.

Finally, he sighed as he spoke up. "Very well Captain, I accept your offer. However, I request that I bring one of my own officers and some of my supersoldiers on-board the ship as security. Purely just to make sure that in case something happens."

 _"Very well then, you can bring some of your Centurion Commandos on the Infinity."_ Miranda said. _"Chief and the other veteran Spartans said they preformed quite effectively along with your Legionaries."_

"They are our best troops Captain Keyes, living weapons that will fight tooth and nail to defend humanity, or well our humanity." Raven said with a good amount of pride. Ever since their introduction during the Fourth Scrin War for the Centurions and during the Fifth Scrin War for the Legionaries, GDI has managed to turn the tide of many battles against both enemy forces both in space and on the ground. Both groups had proven to be the sword that was able to cut deep into the enemy's lines and and destroy their bases with the precision and skill that no normal human could accomplish. Trained under instructors who were either Commandos or the earlier generations of the supersoldiers, the latest fireteams in action had proven to be just as effective due to the harshness of the training and the various scenarios they were put through.

 _'Granted from what Captain Parker and the fireteams that fought on the Covenant ship had said, the Spartans that were around the same height as Master Chief and those that were taller then the Legionaries were since skilled themselves or even more so.'_ He thought. _'Then again, considering the war they've fought, they must have been thrown into countless battles and missions with the fate of humanity going extinct hanging over them.'_

"I'll ask for Fireteam Praetorian and Reaper to come with me along with one of my best officers, will that work for your people Captain?"

 _"I believe that could work since Chief and our Spartans fought alongside them so I'll let them in."_ Miranda responded.

"Very well then, I'll get the teams to come with me once they return and we'll come towards your ship in 15 minutes. I do hope to see you person Captain, you have help many of our people live to see another day."

 _"Understood Admiral, see you then. Keyes out."_ She said and then shut off the transmission.

"Well that was something wouldn't you say Commander Masters and Captain Blake?" Raven spoke to the two officers as they walked up to him.

"Indeed Admiral Raven," Blake said, "still, while our losses were less then expected they have no doubt made an impact." The veteran Captain was definitely impressed considering how effective the UNSC's weaponry was in battle, no doubt close to them in a few cases. Their main weapons (which Keyes had referred to as MAC guns) had a high of kinetic energy behind them that could do a good amount of damage on their ships but it would take a few shots in order to destroy them. Their ships also had some good armaments but they mostly had projectile weapons with some laser CIWS on their ships in order to intercept incoming fighters, bombers, and munitions. He was impressed by the power of the _Forward Unto Dawn II,_ he guessed (correctly in terms of availability) that the weapons used on the ship were prototypes and not capable of being produced in sizable enough numbers for their whole navy. However, so far he admitted that the UNSC was a strong force and if he saw their abilities on the ground he could say they have the potential to help in future wars once the two become allies.

"Well Commander Masters, I want for you to accompany me onto their flagship along with Praetorian and Reaper. We'll see about choosing an ambassador for their civilian government once we've made talks with their military." Raven said. "Considering your position as the main commander of our best troops, it would be preferable for the UNSC to know about one of our best officers."

"I understand sir, I may not be fully comfortable since I'm just a soldier doing his duty but if that's your order I understand." Cole said. While he was glad for the praise he had gotten during the Sixth Scrin War, he was just doing what he could do since GDI HIGHCOM and some politicians had prevented him from joining the Centurion Commandos due to the need for more skilled officers due to the heavy losses due to the Scrin's desperate blitz to shave off the collapse of their weakening empire.

Besides, he was curious to see the UNSC up close, to see the officers and men they had under their command along with their weapons.

"Very well then, Captain Blake I leave the _Olympus_ in your hands." Raven said, "Keep an eye out though on the scanners. We have no idea if Madma has any more forces heading our way and I don't want them to take us by surprise while the Archangels are repairing our most damaged ships."

"Understood Admiral, good luck." Blake said as he saluted his commanding officer. Raven returned the salute as both he and Cole soon walked off the bridge and handed for the _Olympus's_ hanger, looking to take an Orca dropship to the _Infinity._

"Not going to lie Commander, we have lost a decent number of ships engaging the Covenant ships. However, considering the vest number of ships we did destroy its is a massive ratio between the number of ships we lost compared to them." He spoke to the veteran officer. "However, casualties are well over 1,200 in terms of fatalities with a good chunk of those being pilots and thousands more in injuries. Luckily, we only lost a couple of cruisers and a light Dreadnought with the rest being smaller ships. Not to say their losses aren't important since all ships have important roles to play in a fight, but in terms of tonnage lost it isn't as significant as most would think."

"I guess we should count our blessings that the Covenant ships aren't as powerful as the Scrin since our strongest ships were able to tank a good number of shots from their weaponry." Cole said. "Plus, their ground equipment from what Logan was able to tell me they mainly use hover vehicles that use plasma based weaponry. The UNSC were able to send other information regarding their vehicles and firearms, no doubt Cortana's work, so we should be able to insert this data into our VASs so we could start coming up with new tactics to deal with their infantry and vehicles."

"Indeed, I'm going to send one of our Shinobi-Class stealth boats into the wormhole to inform HIGHCOM of the situation once the negotiations have progressed well with the UNSC." Raven said as they got onto the elevator that would take them down to the hanger bay. "There's no doubt we'll need to send in one of our mobile dockyards along with reinforcements in order to make up our losses along with dealing with Covenant forces once the splinter groups try to pick a fight with us. Not to mention the giant metal planet we are close to is just gnawing at my mind. There's something about that just doesn't sit right with me."

Cole simply nodded, the metal planet also gave him a concerning feeling. It was something that many veterans who had fought in war had gained after going through the crucible of combat. It gave them a sort of sixth sense that told them that there was danger around them when going into a situation where they would be expecting trouble. It was only increased when Raven had Daniel scan the _Dawn II_ was able to tell that the energy he was detecting from the ship was in fact similar to that of the planet. This made him wonder if the UNSC was able to go to these type of planets and somehow managed to understand the technology on them and managed to reverse-engineer it onto a ship for testing.

"Well, either way we could ask them about it once the talks formally begin." Raven said, "For right now, we'll have to mentally prepare ourselves for when we meet our new friends."

"Indeed Admiral, indeed." Cole said as the elevator went down as he sent a signal to Fireteams Praetorian and Reaper to prepare for escort duty onto the UNSC flagship.

* * *

 **UNSC _Infinty_**

"What exactly was going on out there Roland?"

"Dr. Halsey, you know you are under strict watch until authorized by Captain Keyes."

Catherine Halsey, arguably the foremost expert on forerunner technology in the UNSC and the creator of the Spartan II program had been brought onto the _Infinity_ to deal with any technology that they would encounter on Requiem. She was annoyed since she had been under lock and key as the true nature of the Spartan II program had been revealed to the UNSC. This hand of course brought on the ridicule and anger that had come as the kidnapping of children to turn into living weapons was an abhorrent act that went against several human principles. Of course, there was those in the UNSC officer's core (in particular Lord Hood and others that had worked with the Spartans) that while they disliked how the Spartans were made said that without their existence the UNSC would have lost the war earlier and humanity would have been eradicated completely.

Of course, despite that important fact and that they had helped to turn the tide of battle in several cases along with saving UNSC troops in just as many battles, a good amount of the civilian population and those that disliked the Spartans in the first place had been detracting the program and say that it should never have happened in the first place.

 _'How is it that the facts are in front of them but they are choosing to ignore it in favor of taking the moral argument that it was still wrong?'_ She thought to herself. _'What John and the others did allowed us to continue fighting and allowed for the Covenant Civil War to occur in the first place at the time it did.'_

"I understand you are under orders to not let me in on certain things but I know that we were in a battle not too long ago. I definitely couldn't have missed the sound and recoil of the ship's MAC guns firing along with the sound of the alarm for battle stations." Halsey pointed out. While she was in her laboratory looking over her current information gathered about Requiem along with preparing to look over information from the tests on the _Dawn II_ and its Forerunner based weaponry.

"Look Doc, things are progressing at a rate we didn't expect and the Captain is dealing with a new situation right now." Roland said to the doctor.

"Oh really?" Halsey said with a frown.

Then suddenly, Captain Keyes appeared on the main monitor of Halsey's lab as she spoke up. _"It's alright Roland, we can at least let her know what's going on."_

"Captain." Halsey said to her so called daughter, "Care to explain what has been going on out there?"

Miranda crossed her arms, her displeasure at talking with her mother due to their history and that she didn't forgive her for leaving her and her late father. She took a deep breath and let it out slowly as she finally spoke up, "We're experiencing a new First Contact scenario."

Halsey's eyes widen as she realized what it meant. Everyone in the UNSC had remembered that the first time they had engaged in First Contact, it was the Covenant who had nearly destroyed them during the war. To say that some in the UNSC were concerned about encountering another group of hostile aliens that could end up fighting them in another war. The UNSC had been able to reverse-engineer Covenant and Forerunner tech to increase the power of their own ships and weapons, making them several times more powerful than they were during the Human-Covenant War. However, the concern of another large scale war was on the minds of some of the UNSC's top commanders and politicians.

"So who have we come into contact with? Are they aliens much like the Covenant?" Halsey inquired.

 _"No, surprisingly they're... human like us." Miranda said._

"What?" Halsey said with wide eyes. "Explain."

 _"We encountered another human group that was in engaging the Covenant in battle and were holding their own quite well. They had decimated a little over half of the Covenant armada while only losing a few small ships and only some of their fighters. To say it was a massacre for the Covenant was an understatement, it was several times worse than the losses that we had suffered during the War."_ Miranda said with a serious tone. _"If anything, they're weaponry is somewhat above even where we are currently minus the Forerunner weaponry but even then its still up in the air."_

"That is definitely surprising." Halsey thought while putting a hand to her chin. "So what do we know about these "new humans"?

 _"They call themselves the Galactic Defense Initiative or GDI, an organization that appears to be similar to that of the UNSC. Their commanding officer, Admiral Charles Raven told me that they were on a mission to make contact with any civilization that they could trade or make an alliance with. They had gone through a wormhole that took them to a location several light years from where we are currently at along with Requiem."_

"A wormhole? Let me see if I can find it." Halsey said as she looked to her datapad. She imputed a command that allowed for the advanced scanning equipment in her lab to detect the wormhole that her daughter was talking about. Thankfully, due to the advanced sensors she had access to was able to detect it. "Hmm... fascinating. It seems they weren't lying, I'm detecting a a large anomaly that does fit the signature of a wormhole several dozen light years away."

 _"Right..."_ Miranda said with a slight frown. _"Either way, here's the data we've gathered about their weaponry from what our scanners have been to tell. Gives you something to look into for right now."_

"Clearly." Halsey says sarcastically. "Well I'll be sure to let your people know about I find about them."

 _"Very well." Miranda said with a small sigh. "Oh, and doctor."_

"What is it Captain?" Halsey said while looking over her shoulder.

 _"We found him, we found Master Chief."_ Miranda said. While she did still have problems with the doctor, Miranda figured that she at least deserved to know about the Master Chief. She was the one that raised the Spartan IIs in the first place, and while many hated what she had done she did think about them as her children under her watch. Miranda had seen during some of the interrogations that despite what her mother had done, she cared about them like they were her children and thought highly of them. Halsey never said that specifically, but Miranda was able to tell that once she paid enough attention to Halsey's body language and eyes.

Halsey stopped typing on her pad as she was stunned in what she heard. "You found him?" She said with a bit of apprehension. She had always wonder what had happened to John following events on the Ark and the end of the war. She always had the thought that due to his unnatural luck, John would be alright along with Cortana as long as the two found a way to get back safely.

 _"Yes, GDI had found him first and he helped them against the Covenant. They were even able to capture Madma on his flagship after taking out all of his troops and even brought back to life two Spartan IVs that were killed after the battle, bringing them back as if nothing had happened."_

"What? That shouldn't be possible!" Halsey said with shock on her face. Granted she had heard about the medical practices that allowed the UNSC to bring back those that were killed back to life in some cases, but that was only after months and months of work on them. The Forerunners were able to do better, but that was only because they had their advanced facilities and they brought them back due to it. To hear that there was a way to bring those back from the dead directly after a battle was unheard of in the medical field.

 _"Believe me, you're not the only one who was surprised upon hearing that."_ Miranda said with a slight frown. _"Anyway, their leading officer will be coming on board soon so I'll leave you to your work. After the meeting, you'll be able to speak with Master Chief, understood?"_

"Understood Captain." Halsey said. It was clear that would be the best that her daughter would give to her even with the continued animosity between them. While both of them figured that the rift between them wouldn't heal, they could at least agree on some things that mattered to them. While she was well aware of the Spartan II Project and what had occurred in it, Miranda knew that Halsey cared about the IIs much like a mother would for their children. It was the least she could do, considering that she herself couldn't thank Chief enough for helping her during the fighting on Earth and up to the Ark until her death.

 _"Very well, I'll leave you to it."_ Miranda spoke as she then cut off the transmission, leaving Halsey to herself. Then, a small smile appeared on Halsey's face one of happiness at hearing her favorite Spartan was still alive and kicking. Not only that, but it was possible that Cortana was with him as well. The two of them had made an excellent team during the last war of the War and were able to stop both the Flood from infecting all sentient life in the galaxy, but also stopped the Halo rings from firing off which would have led to a mass extinction across the Milky Way.

 _'Wait, at this point Cortana should be undergoing rampancy at this stage. No doubt John will want to see about getting her to me as soon as possible in order to save her.'_ She thought to herself. ' _ll have to ask Miranda later once things get settled to allow me to help Cortana.'_

* * *

 ** _Infinty_** **Hanger bay**

Miranda, Lasky, Carter, Palmer, Roland (appearing in his full body size via a holo-projector) and Blue team were standing in front of a sizable group of UNSC Marines that were standing at attention. They were there to give an impression to GDI about their soldiers and to give them a proper greeting. Blue Team and the other Spartan teams had arrived sometime earlier along with Madma in cuffs as they had big farewell to the GDI supersoldiers on the _Song of Retribution_ as they went off in their own transports. There was no doubt in Miranda's mind that once she in formed Lord Hood about Madma's capture, it would be a large victory for the UNSC in the war against the Covenant Remnant forces.

They also had brought the Spartan IVs that had been killed by the Covenant ambush, though it was small in number. Commander Palmer had felt responsible for falling into a trap so easily because of her overconfidence and was no doubt contemplating her failure. Miranda knew that the first batches of IVs were rather cocky due to their armor allowing them to match the Spartan IIs in terms of performance, but lacked the discipline and focus that the IIs and IIIs had. Miranda understood that she would need to talk with Palmer later in order to not only get herself back on her feet and would learn to improve from this. However, Palmer would need to learn from this mistake and it would in turn help her to grow as a leader. While she was the first to be chosen to be a Spartan IV, Miranda knew that Palmer would have to understand what it truly meant to have the title of Humanities best soldier, along with the rest of the first batch of IVs.

Miranda soon got a transmission from the UNSC fighter group that was escorting the GDI dropship to the _Infinity,_ _"Infinity, this is Triarii Lead. We're bringing in the GDI transport now."_

"Roger that Triarii, you're clear to land." Miranda ordered. The assorted group of UNSC personnel were looking at the incoming group of spaceships, seeing the GDI ship in the center of the formation as it was coming in. It looked to be as rather sleek looking ship with a good amount of armaments based on the number of hardpoints it had from what they could see. Chief had said the dropship was called the Orca dropship which was designed to quickly bring troops while bringing in a good amount of firepower to support the troops before and during their deployment. She didn't know how it compared to the Pelican but she could tell that it could better armed than the venerable transport that had brought UNSC troops into battle against both the Insurrection and the Covenant.

The transport and Katana fighters then flew into the hanger bay and began to land. The transport began to spin around which showed the rear of the ship as they readied to drop down the door for allowing the GDI personnel to disembark. The door then came down as 14 individuals stepped down, with 12 of them being fully armored soldiers that were taller then everyone else except the Spartan IIs and the last two being regular humans in uniform. The first of the two had many metals on his chest as he had the rank of admiral along with a sidearm on his hip. This was no doubt Admiral Raven as he had the look of a veteran commander with years of experience under his belt from the way he walked along with the look in his eyes.

The other one was a younger man with shades on his eyes along with a visible scar on his face, no doubt earned in combat while leading his troops on the frontlines. He also had a strong build on him, showing that the young man must either exercise quite very often or he originally must have been in an elite group. He also had a sidearm but the most noticeable thing on him was that he had what appeared to be a katana on his hip, which seemed strange at first but must be for close quarters fighting. Also, unlike the Admiral, he had on a dark green uniform which met he must be from a different branch in their military as it showed a good amount of metals and stripes on him.

Raven and Cole couldn't help but be impressed by the sheer size of the hanger bay of _Infinity_ and the large amount of soldiers that were standing at attention for their welcome. They were impressed to see the professionalism of the UNSC Marines along with the weapons they could see. While Wes was ale to scan the Marines, he could tell that only a few had access to a small energy shield generator on them for better protection. While it was something that made Cole mentally raised an eyebrow, he figured that the Human-Covenant War must have greatly depleted the UNSC's resources so they were unable to get certain equipment in large enough numbers.

They then saw the group in front of them as Fireteams Praetorian and Reaper recognized Blue Team along with Commander A-239 and Palmer with two regular officers. The one was female with short brown hair and had the look of a veteran officer in the middle of the group. She had the Captain's rank on her uniform along with several metals, no doubt being Captain Keyes who had helped them finish off the Covenant. The other was a man with the rank of a commander on his shoulder pauldron, having the look of one that had seen tragedy but continued to fight for his people and those he lost. Finally was a golden growing man with the look of a Great World War Two era bomber pliot, no doubt an AI from the looks of it.

Miranda then stepped up as she spoke while saluting Raven. "Admiral Raven I presume? Welcome on board the _Infinity_."

Raven returned the salute as he walked up to Miranda with a smile, "Thank you Captain Keyes, I must admit this ship of yours is quite impressive. Seems like it can give the _Olympus_ a run for its money."

"Thank you Admiral, the _Infinity_ is the pride of the UNSC Navy." Miranda said.

Raven then noticed the small ships that were docked in the ship. "I see you also have frigate like ships as a personal escort."

"Those would be our Stalwart-Class Frigates, designed to replace some of our previous classes due to the technology we've acquired." Miranda said.

"Anyway, I believe introductions are in order." She then gestured to Lasky. "This is my XO, Commander Thomas Lasky."

Lasky then stepped up and saluted the Admiral. "Sir."

"A pleasure Commander." Raven said as he returned the salute.

"Next, are Commander Sarah Palmer and A-239, who your Centurions maybe familiar with." Both Spartans saluted the group as they also nodded towards the Centurions who returned the gesture.

Raven sees Commander Palmer and notices that she was a little off. _'No doubt she's still affected by how easily they fell into the Covenant's trap. I don't blame her because I think they can get better along with herself.'_ He thought. He looked to Miranda who understood what Raven was thinking and let him know that she'll look into getting Palmer to overcome this incident.

"Next is Roland, the _Infinity's_ AI. He assists in dealing the operation of the ship in and out of battle along with providing support for our troops." Miranda spoke as she gestured to the AI.

Roland then snapped a salute to which Raven returned. "Greetings Admiral."

"And this is Blue Team, among our best soldiers in the UNSC." Miranda said as the Spartans stepped up and saluted.

"Petty Officer Second Class Spartan-058." Linda spoke up.

"Petty Officer Second Class Spartan-087." Kelly said after.

 **"** Lieutenant, Junior Grade Spartan-104." Fred said next.

"Master Chief Petty Officer Spartan-117." John finished.

The GDI personnel saluted back as Raven spoke up, "Nice to see your back with your people Chief."

"Thank you sir." John replied simply.

"Well I suppose I should go next." Raven said he gestured towards his soldiers. "These are Centurion fireteams Praetorian and Reaper, as your Spartans know well having worked alongside them on the Covenant flagship to capture their leader."

Casey first stepped up. "Captain Havoc, leader of Fireteam Praetorian."

"Lieutenant Jackal, Second in Command of Fireteam Reaper." Miguel spoke up.

"Lance Corporal Jaeger." Emily stepped up next.

Lance Corporal Kaze." Hayate spoke up next.

"Corporal Ursa." Dmitri said next.

"Corporal Castor." Cynthia said afterward.

Next up was Fireteam Reaper as Raider spoke up. "Captain Raider, leader of Fireteam Reaper."

Fang was up next, "Corporal Fang."

Next up was a female Centurion with a GD-22L on his back with his armor looking like a mix of the ICS with that of the M400 armor with a more armored torso area, as well as a helmet that had a visor with two white pieces separating the glasses pieces (Like the helmet for GDI medium infantry from Tiberium Eclipse) "Lieutenant Sentinel, Second in Command of Reaper."

Then, the Zone Commando that had the Nordic Runes on his suit stepped up, "Sargent Berserker."

Another Centurion, this time with a rectangular visor on his helmet (think the helmet of the future US soldier from a recent animation showing what capabilities they'll have in the coming years) along with imagery of a raptor on his suit stepped up while keeping his hands on what looked like tomahawk, "Lance Corporal Raptor."

Finally, another Centurion, this time with a a rounded helmet with a small orange visor that was narrow in the middle with more armor on the mouth area (think the number 15 option for helmets/hair from XCOM: Enemy Unknown) with two metal "horns" curving around the his head and only sticking out the back a little bit, along with his suit looking far more slimmer then the standard ICS with the image of a magic circle on his helmet. "Lance Corporal Warlock."

"If your curious, they only state their nicknames to new individuals until they feel the time is right to reveal their true names to those that have earned their respect." Raven said to the UNSC military personnel.

Raven then gestured to Cole. "And this is Battle Commander Cole Masters, the head of our most elite Centurion and Legionary fireteams and the head of Task Force Spearhead, a special force under his command on one of our GSTs." Cole then stepped up to salute.

The UNSC group were surprised to hear that the young man in front of them was the commander of their most elite supersoldiers and his own combat unit. They didn't think the young man in front of them had such an important task in the new groups military. John then spoke up, a little surprised at first but then repressed it while speaking, "Commander Masters?" He had still kept a little of his earlier thoughts about a non-augmented officer leading a group of supersoldiers, but seeing the man up close started to dissipate his thoughts.

"Good to meet you face to face Chief, thanks for helping my old squad out on the _Dawn_ and the Covenant ship. I appreciate what you did, for both those under me and all of GDI." Cole said to the legendary Spartan.

John, seeing that the man in front of him was the type of person that did care about the people under him and he had the poise and posture of a soldier that had seen the crucible of combat, nodded in return to the GDI Commander. "Understood Commander."

"Commander Masters, may I ask about why you are wearing sunglasses? It doesn't strike that you would be the type of person to do so." Lasky questioned.

"Well, these aren't normal shades Commander Lasky," Cole spoke up to his UNSC counterpart. "They have several features including a motion tracker, several different vision settings, and it can also allow me to have my personal AI companion be loaded in to assist me when looking around areas." He then brought out a small device that looked similar to the projectors the UNSC had as a green energy beam came out and loaded itself into the device. "Say hello Wes." He said to the device.

Then a projection of a WW2 soldier appeared with his M1 rifle on his back as he saluted. "Hello there UNSC." He said with a smile.

Miranda put a hand to her chin as she gave a little smirk. "Honestly I'm surprised that you didn't say the obvious joke, I heard from Chief and Cortana that you are a bit of a joker."

"Oh?" Wes said with a smirk, "I could but I think it is a little too easy, unless you want me to do so Ma'am."

Miranda smirked a little more as he turned to John. "Sounds like you have competition Cortana."

"Very funny ma'am, trust me I think I'm well aware." Cortana said through John's helmet. "Chief, I think you know what to do."

Wordlessly, the Spartan pressed a button on his helmet and soon a full size projection of Cortana appeared in front of the GDI delegation. They were wondering what the female AI had looked like after hearing her voice, and now could see it for themselves.

Wes, gave a slight whistle at the AI's appearance. "So I was right on you being pretty."

"Wes..." Cole growled, knowing that while Wes's antics could be humorous, now wasn't the time for it.

"Real funny there soldier boy." Cortana said with a smirk on her face, seeing that there were some parallels between the relationship of the two in front of her to the one with her and John. She then faced the rest of the GDI personnel and bowed towards the group. "Allow me to thank you for getting both me and the Chief here off of our old ship. I was wondering if the two of us were ever going to be rescued."

"It's not an issue at all Cortana," Raven said with a good nature smile, "Even if we didn't need help for where we were, it wouldn't be right to leave people drifting out in the black void without help, unless they were intending to attack us."

"Understood there Admiral." Cortana said as she saluted the group of new humans.

"Well then Captain, where are we meeting for our negotiations?" Raven said to Miranda. He could see that Miranda was someone that had a good level of humor about her. It was good to see that some in the UNSC did have some good traits and weren't too strict around other people. He was glad to see that he was able to meet someone that had a level head on their shoulders, along with a sense of humor and wasn't paranoid as he would have thought with a people that had gone through a war that nearly brought them to extinction.

"Follow us Admiral, the room we'll be holding the meeting at is an a higher floor." Miranda said as the UNSC group began to walk away with the GDI group following them.

Cynthia looked around the hanger bay as she looked at a few strange being flying around to the ships, fighters, and dropships. They appeared to be metallic creatures with organic parts that showed through their armor with tentacles coming out of them. They were assisting nearby engineers with repairing damaged aircraft and were patching up damaged areas in the frigates that the _Infinity_ sent out into battle when the UNSC appeared.

"Captain Keyes, what are those beings that are helping the engineers?" Castor said aloud.

"Oh the Huragok?" Miranda questioned. "They're a race of bio-organic supercomputers that focus on repair, improving, and basically anything that is machine or device related." She then beckoned one of them who was close enough so GDI could see the creature up close. It was definitely strange looking as it just made a series of beeps, which they thought that it was some type of language. Though a few of the Centurions were concerned since the creature was getting close to their weapons.

"I'm going to guess they want to look at our weapons?" Cole inquired.

"Well, all the Huragok only care about working with machines and seeing about improving them. In fact, they'll do basically anything and work for anyone as long as they are loyal to them." Miranda spoke up.

"Wait, so are you saying they are slaves?" Raider said.

"Well in a way, but we don't mistreat them and they've been a big help for us. Do you want to see them in action?" Miranda inquired.

The GDI group looked at each other as they wondered what they could allow the bio-computer to mess with.

Raven then stepped up as he brought out his GD-13 pistol and spoke to it. "Disengage security lock." He spoke out loud. A holographic display appeared as the sentence, "VOICE COMMAND RECOGNIZED, DISENGAGING DEFENSE PROTOCOL." The holographic display disappeared as Raven then held it out to the alien. "Had to disengage the security system so that the pistol could be operable after being touched by someone that is not registered in GDI."

"You have security systems in your pistols?" Lasky questioned.

"All of our weapons Commander Lasky." Raven spoke in a serious tone. "The last thing our soldiers need is the enemy using our own weapons against us if they capture any. Plus it would prevent anyone from picking the weapons apart so they could reserve-engineer or find out the inner workings to find a weakness to them."

"That sounds..." Lasky began until Cole spoke up.

"Paranoid? Well that has been GDI's mindset for a couple of centuries Commander Lasky. And while it maybe excessive, it has helped us in the past."

The Huragok then took the pistol from Raven as its tentacles began to move to pick apart the weapon. Then it suddenly turned into a blur which only the Supersoldiers and the AI with them were able to follow (Cole had to ask Wes to play in slow motion for him to see the full process) as it took apart the weapon and put it back together in mere seconds. The gun looked to be the same on the outside and looked to be completely untouched as Raven took the pistol back. The Huragok then gave off several beeps which the UNSC was able to understand via special translation programs made by them to understand the bio-computers.

"The Huragok says that he was able to modify the pistol to have 17% less recoil, 8% lighter weight, and a 10% improvement in the gun's balance." Cortana spoke out through John's helmet. "Overall the weapon should be able to better to handle if you ever end up in a fire fight."

"Incredible," Raven said he looked at the weapon and was impressed with the improvements. "to think their was a race capable of such a thing." _'HIGHCOM would no doubt be interested in seeing about having the Huragok help us once an alliance with the UNSC has been formed.'_ He thought to himself.

"Well then, shall we keep going?" Miranda suggested.

* * *

 _Some time later..._

The combined UNSC-GDI group soon walked up to a checkpoint where the GDI soldiers would have to leave behind their weapons so that way no one could get any funny ideas. While reluctant at first, the UNSC also had placed their weapons on another table so the GDI group figured that it would make since to do the same. So a large pile of melee and ranged weapons were placed on the table along with Cole's sunglasses as he didn't need them for something like this. They then walked through the scanner set up for detecting any items on their person in case anyone had any hidden weapons or dangerous objects. The Centurions were allowed to keep their armor on as much like the Spartans, they were more comfortable wearing it in most situations.

Inside the room was a large screen showing the UNSC symbol of an eagle spreading its wings over the world along with a table with multiple seats. In the center was a holo projector, no doubt to give more visual aid to those that would be viewing images or video of famous events. Miranda, John, Carter, and Lasky sat down first followed by Cole and Raven at the other end of the table along with Havoc and Raider. Thankfully, since they had seen the Spartans sit down on the chairs before that showed them that the Centurions were capable of sitting down on them as well. Roland also appeared on the table as well on the UNSC side, no doubt going to be helpful in displaying the the history of the UNSC when the time came.

"Well now that we are here, I suppose its time for us to finally get down to brass tacks." Miranda said as she put her hands together.

Raven sighed a little as he knew it was time for both sides to finally start speaking with each other. "Very well then Captain Keyes. As you know, my force is a battlegroup that was sent through a wormhole in a nearby section of space to see what civilizations laid beyond it. We were to open dialogue with them as we were to find allies to open trade and perhaps create a military alliance for future wars."

"I assume from that your people are dealing with a war of your own with a rather powerful enemy?" Miranda questioned.

"Two in fact." Raven said truthfully. "One was an alien race that happened to be a force that was an interstellar empire we had several wars with that we have been fighting for decades in several smaller scale wars and up to six full scales conflicts following our major forays into space. The last three major wars we've had with them have costed us over 20 billion in deaths, with our Sixth War costing us nearly 10 billion in overall losses. They're the main reason why our Navy has the ships you saw in our battlegroup along being able to take the damage that they were able to take from the Covenant ships."

Both Miranda and Lasky had their eyebrows raised as they were having trouble in realizing that there was a race that were more powerful than the Covenant. The Covenant had pushed them to edge of annihilation due to how advanced they were in space as they had needed a 3 to 1 to even a 10 to 1 advantage in order to win a battle with the UNSC still taking heavy losses. However, to hear there was something that had even caused this new human group to lose billions of people in battle was a shock to hear.

"Well I suppose its time to finally get to telling you about our people and history." Raven said as he breathed in and out slowly.

"Very well then," Miranda said as she pulled out a datapad. "Your AI should be able to look into our history logs and if anything we maybe able to start from the 20th Century onward."

"Wes that's your que, see what you can find." Cole said as he pointed his projector towards the datapad.

"Roger that Commander." Wes said as he pulled out the information from the datapad and began to look through it. He saw that the UNSC's history lined up quite well with the one that GDI had experienced up to GWW1 with the Germans signing the armistice and accepting the Treaty of Versailles in 1919.

However, looking into the history of the UNSC's humanity he began to see a large difference with their equal to Great World War Two.

Wes then reappeared on the projector with a concerned look on his face. "Admiral, They're history checks out with ours up until their version of Great World War II."

Raven looked at the usually mischievous AI with a slight glare. "How do you mean?"

"Their opponent during their version were a group known as the Axis Powers made of Imperial Japan, the Kingdom of Italy, and Nazi Germany. Also, the Soviets were in the war, but were helping the Western nations, especially the United States and Great Britain. The war ended in 1945 following the surrenders of Germany on May 8th and Japan on September 2nd, six years and a day after the war had begun." Wes said.

Raven and Cole's eyebrows shot up in surprise at what the AI had said. "Wait, what do you mean Wesley? The Soviets were fighting alongside the Allies? And what is this Nazi Germany?" Raven said aloud. All soldiers in GDI had studied battles and strategies that had happened in the past as part of the soldier's training regiment in order to teach them about battle scenarios that they could learn from use in battle. These included the battles from Great World War II in which the Soviets had used what are known as Deep operation tactics which emphasized destruction, suppression, and disorganization of enemy forces on a battlefield and focusing on using forces to exploit a break in the enemy's line to pour forces through. However, the Soviets used those tactics to push back Allied forces during GWW2 during battles in the plains of Europe and Russia with millions of soldiers and thousands of battle tanks moving forward.

Miranda raised an eyebrow at what Raven had said. "Admiral, why are you that surprised at those facts? Are saying you had a different WW2?"

"Captain Keyes, I am not one to lie in serious situations." Raven with an edge to his voice. "So believe when I say this, the ones that caused GWW2 to occur were the Soviets invading Europe and I'm afraid that this so called Nazi Germany doesn't exist."

"Wait, the Soviets caused WW2 where your from?" Lasky said with some surprise to his voice. "The Nazis don't exist? Wait, do have records on people had lived in the 20th Century where you come from?"

"Yes Commander Lasky, may I ask where you are going with this?" Raven said with a raised eyebrow.

"Could you have Wes look into that? We just want to be sure of something." Lasky suggested. _'If this is going where I think it's going, things may have just gotten complicated. More so then it could have been.'_ The way Raven was confused at hearing about the Soviets and the Nazis definitely rang some warning bells in Lasky's mind. If his idea on GDI was correct, things could end up causing some serious revelations and could explain how GDI is different then the UNSC despite them both being created to protect humanity.

Raven looked to Wes as the man nodded to the AI. Wes returned the gesture as looked towards Lasky and spoke up. "So Commander, anyone in particular you want me to look for?"

"Look for the name Adolf Hitler in your records." Lasky said.

"Got it." Wes said as he began looking into the record of people throughout history to find the person he was looking for. Due to his processing power, he was able to quickly pin down Hitler and looked through his history file. He didn't know why Lasky had that serious undertone in his voice when he had asked Wes to look into this person, but something told the AI it was important.

"Found it." He said aloud as he pulled up the file on Hitler. "Adolf Hitler, a rather prominent member of the NASAP or translated to English Nationalist Socialist German Workers Party that had been coming into its own in the 1920s following GWW1. Born in Austria 20 April, 1889 and died in Landsberg, Germany on April 30th, 1924. Was apparently writing a book about some twisted ideals he believed in and the plans he had for Germany if his party had managed to take full power in the country during its elections."

To say the UNSC personnel were stunned was an understatement. Miranda and Lasky were taken aback completely by the news while the Spartans (Not shown to the GDI personnel due to their helmets) were a little stunned upon the news as WW2 was a topic that was key in military schools and in their programs training courses as it had brought into existence several key tactics and strategies that the UNSC used to this day and some of the commanders of that war are still considered in high regard in the UNSC. However, the acts committed by Hitler which lead to the war and the millions dead due to the plans made by the madman and those that followed and believed in his racist ideals of the perfect Aryan race and the ideas of killing off those that were considered "subhuman" that they thought of as cattle to be killed without remorse.

However, the idea that Hitler had been killed early made one fact clear to the UNSC.

 _'They maybe be the result of an alternate timeline.'_ Both regular officers and the Spartans thought.

Cole looked over the data they had on the man as he frowned at what the Austrian veteran was planning for his country. "This guy definitely would fit the like of dictators in the past but for a more modern setting. Ideals in getting the land from the Slavs in the Ukraine and Eastern Europe to give land to German farmers along with getting the raw materials needed that could easily have been used to power a war machine if he had come to power."

Castor then had this nagging feeling in her mind about the name of the man. _'Where have I seen and heard his name before?'_

Both officers soon looked towards the Tiberium Mutant with their eyebrows in curiosity, "What is it Castor?"

"It's nothing sirs, just was wondering about something else." The mutant said. She couldn't for the life of her remember where she had heard that name before today. She was certain it was a book she read, a book in a series that she had read some time go. She would have to look into it at a later point in time and show her superiors once that time comes.

Miranda and Lasky were still in disbelief at hearing this, hearing that one of the most heinous dictators in their history was killed and that GDI was the result of an alternate timeline. It felt just weird for them to hear that all of the events in what was considered the greatest conflict for many years and the war that shaped the greatest generation, that caused the creation of the UN which would lead to the present day and all of the events that had happened never came to be and instead became another version of what could have happened had the Cold War come hot. While part of them were glad that due to Hitler's premature death that the 60 million people killed during the Second World War and the millions of Jews, Gypsies, and the others groups that the Nazis killed without remorse were able to survive, they also had a feeling that more lives were lost regardless.

"Captain Keyes? Commander Lasky? Are you alright?" Cole asked in a concerned voice.

"It's fine Commander Masters, I believe it would be good to know about your history so we can understand the differences about our people." Miranda said, realizing that they would have to address the reveal of an alternate timeline later. There was no doubt that Admiral Osman, Lord Hood, and the current President of the UEG, Alice Dennision would be taken aback by what they have found out today. However, they needed to focus on the here and now and get down to talking so they could hopefully have both their groups have a peaceful coexistence.

"Very well then, now as I said before our version of the conflict you call WW2 had the Western Allies made of the Western Countries of Europe and the US fought against the Soviets." Raven spoke up. "Due in large part to the overwhelming power that the Soviets had with their large numbers of military weapons and manpower which forced the Allies to use asymmetric warfare in order to counteract their advances. A new commander had been put into the position of leading the counterattack against the Soviets as they used the more advanced units of the Allies were able to outmaneuver the larger Soviet forces."

"The Soviets were able to push hard, capturing Greece during their offensives as the Allies were on the back foot for the first few months of the war. It also around this time that the Allies had gotten wind of the Soviets designing nuclear weapons, their main ace in the hole for them to finally win the war. the tide was turning thanks to the genius of Albert Einstein, which had gained the Allies the use of a special new technology called the Chronosphere, which allowed the use of teleportation which greatly benefited the Allies under the Philadelphia Project."

"Wait, actual teleportation?" Roland questioned.

"Yes, it was been under lock and key for centuries with most of the information for it only known to the highest military authorities along with the Director General." Raven said solemnly. "Though they're have been rumors that they plan on making the technology again to help teleport soldiers from one location to another, though I've heard it through others speculating on it."

 _'And now they plan on dong something that Star Trek was capable of.'_ Lasky, Palmer, and Miranda thought, thinking back to a certain old TV series that many in the UNSC knew and even made jokes about at times for comedic purposes and to pass the time. _'Good God, who are we dealing with here?'_ Roland was also curious as well since the only ones that knew teleportation in this universe was in fact the Forerunners to their teleporter grids and other such locations

"Anyway, the Soviets were able to find out about the test and sent a sizable force to either capture or destroy the Chronosphere as they knew how dangerous the technology was. Thankfully, the Allied Commander Alexander Bradley was able to stop their forces and the test proved successful. Due to this and a few other ideas from Einstein, the Allies were able to push the Soviets out of Europe and they would have the ability to push into the Soviet Union, turning the tide of the war fully against Stalin's forces. In the end, the Allies launched the final assault on Moscow and as some believe, killed Stalin when his bunker was destroyed.

He then turned to Wes as the AI then began to send into the projection images of GWW2 with battles between the Allies and Soviet forces as they saw what appeared to be T-80 tanks with duel gun tanks from the Soviets alongside what appeared to be tanks with a glowing blue on top of them shooting out electricity as they attacked tanks that resembles M60 Patton and Leopard 1 tanks with 105mm guns. They also saw planes and helicopters that would have come out later in the Cold War fighting it in the skies with Apache Longbows fighting against Mil-24 Hind helicopters as well as firing on ground units. They also saw what looked to be MIG fighters flying overhead in ground strike missions.

It was a surreal sight to see weaponry that didn't come out until later in their Cold War fighting in what was supposed to be World War II.

Carter then spoke up, "Admiral Raven, what are those tanks that are shooting out lightning?"

"Oh those? Those the Soviet's Tesla Tanks, their main artillery platform and one of their best infantry killers." Raven said, "Those old beasts got a return in the last decade of the 20th Century and were upgraded to cause more problems but eventually they were taken care of by our forces at that time."

"Tesla Tanks?" Lasky questioned, "Do you mean to say-"

"Yes, the Soviets were able to fully weaponize the coils made by Nikola Tesla in order to produce a powerful weapon for them to use against the Allies." Raven finished for the UNSC Commander.

 _'Great, now I'm wondering if keeping Dr. Halsey out of this was a little hasty of me.'_ Miranda thought. To see something that was developed to help expand the field of electronics before wireless radio technology was created turned into a weapon of war was a bit of a surprise. If anything, the idea weaponizing it just seemed off to her, like it belonged in science fiction instead of the battlefield. This along with the idea of actual teleportation was something that even the UNSC was unable to make happen despite how advanced they became. Hell, perhaps even the Forerunners would be surprised by it since they were the only ones that the UNSC knew for certain had the technology and they would be surprised to was a human group that also developed similar tech.

"During the conflict, there was a vote put at the UN for the creation of a new defense agency that would take down dictators in other countries as to prevent more power hungry madman like Stalin seizing more power and becoming an overall threat to the world." Raven said as Wes brought up images of the UN vote along with special images and video taken by the teams of GDI's predecessor at the time showing the various take downs of key dictators." It was known as Operations Group Echo: Black Ops 9, a special task force that operated under the UN, assisted by the Security Council in order to deal prevent future conflicts from popping up."

"Smart move, I guess seeing the damage that Stalin had left on the world at the time must have driven it home to the UN to be more proactive in preventing such a tragedy that they would go to such lengths." Miranda commented. It did impress her that the UN of GDI's universe was proactive in preventing wars from happening.

"Indeed," Raven said, "several officials that had sinister intentions to expand their power and influence and rule with an iron fist were taken out before their political parties and military forces were able to seize full control. However, over the years rumors and speculation about Black Ops 9 began to circulate. People began to wonder about the sudden deaths of the dictators was they were assassinated, but not by either political rivals or via rebel movements. Soon people began to wonder if due to the UN's increasing power that they were the cause of some of these incidents. Eventually the UN Security Council allowed for a limited amount of information on the unit to come out in the face of ever growing rumors. Eventually the straw that broke the camel's back was the failure to assassinate Saddam Hussein in an attempt to prevent the Persian Gulf War from occurring, resulting in the deaths of most of the agents that were a part of the mission."

The UNSC personnel couldn't help but feel saddened by the failure of such a mission and the loss of life that had occurred as a result of it. It reminded the veterans of the Covenant War in the room the missions that were considered suicidal and ended with many good men and women, both regular human and in the case of Carter, Spartans that were sacrificed in missions that didn't effect the outcome of the war or slowed down the Covenant's advance.

"Wait, so up until Hussein, all dictators that had popped up on the radar of the UN were taken out?" Chief said aloud.

"That would be correct Chief, although there were times where some almost got away." Cole said.

"Understood." Chief replied. It did impress the Spartans as to how effective Black Ops 9 was able to deal with would be tyrants under the watch of the UN. Much like how their version of the UN gained more power after the Second World War, to make sure such a conflict didn't happen again.

"Well, following the failure of Saddam's assassination the UN had no choice but to reveal Black Ops 9 to the public in order to prevent extensive backlash. In addition, this event along with another we'll be covering soon enough caused the UN Security Council to remake Black Ops 9 completely in order to have it deal with the rising threats to humanity effectively and directly. Thus, on October 12, 1995, in accordance with the United Nations Global Defense Act or UNGDA the UNGDI or United Nations Global Defense Initiative was formed with its first supreme commander being American Brigadier General Mark Jamison Sheppard." In accordance to Raven speaking, images of the UN signing of the act along with the weapons that would come to be used by GDI in the First Tiberium War were shown alongside General Sheppard's image

"So your full name is UNGDI?" Miranda asked, "I'm going to guess they just dropped the UN part and people kept calling your group GDI?"

Raven chuckled at that, "Indeed, it wasn't all that much of an issue and people only really say the full name in certain situations." His face then turned grim as he spoke up again. "Of course, as this was happening, the nations of Earth had two emerging problems that would plague it for 82 years. During this time, GDI's goal would be to protect humanity from these threats until the solutions to dealing with them would come in the mid 21st Century."

"What were these problems?" Carter asked.

Raven nodded to Wes as the AI changed the images to ones that showed soldiers in black armor with red visors and what looked to be helmets similar in look to the German Stahlhelm helmets wielding both regular projectile weaponry and when rapid fire laser weapons. They could also see what appeared to be stolen US hardware in the form of Bradley IFVs and Apache attack helicopters being used by them to launch attacks against GDI units alongside tanks that were just large mobile flamethrowers shooting out streams of fire at enemies around them. They also images what appeared to be unique structures that were strange looking to the UNSC personnel. To top it all off was the flag that they used, a triangle with a back scorpion tail on a red back background which had changed its shape until it had one with craved almost fin like protrusions on where the points of the triangle would be at (C&C3 Nod Flag).

"The first was the Brotherhood of Nod, a international terrorist organization that was believed to have started in 1800 B.C. from what historians and investigators have found out along with the files we had gotten from them" Raven said with a scowl. "They believed that the act of Black Ops 9 and the ever growing influence of the UN and the world's most powerful nations gaining more influence, that they were steps by those same nations to keep the immense power they had. They were able to garner immense support from the population of the more unfortunate areas of Earth as time went on due to their propaganda and actions in helping those areas of the world were the UN and later GDI weren't able to fully assist with. In fact by the time of the first war with the Brotherhood, they had in their control 49% of a certain substance which helped to not only provide a massive source of funding for their growing power base, both in terms of economics and military, but would also cause the creation of their most advanced equipment."

"Damn, sounds like these guys are like the Insurrection that we're dealing with, but arguably more advanced then they could ever be." Palmer mentioned. After the War and due to the Spartan IV augmentations, she and other Spartan IVs were able to make an impact in dealing with the main enemy that the UNSC had been dealing with prior to Covenant War. While the UNSC had been improving its weaponry and tactics, they had proven to still be a problem that wasn't going away anytime soon with a few prominent factions in the Insurrection vying for power and to continually carry out attacks against both civilian or military targets.

"Believe me Commander Palmer, they got even more advanced during the later Wars we had against them to the point where they were able to developed cloaking devices that were difficult to find their units without special scanning equipment, powerful mech units that were able to take out all but our strongest armored units, deadly cyborg units that were able to tear apart regular human soldiers with their strong prosthetic and laser firearms, and finally the ability to bring back the dead and turn them into powerful killer zombies." Raven said.

Palmer's eyes shot up as her jaw slightly dropped as Lasky and Miranda's eyes became wide at what the Admiral said. While they were surprised to hear about what Nod had gotten during GDI's first fight with them, but they certainly didn't expect to hear they were able to get to that level technology and abilities that even were outside the realm of science itself. Wes even showed them the images of said weaponry and technology from the later Wars as Nod soldiers, from its mainly militia forces alongside regular infantry units with advanced aircraft fighting against GDI in dogfights and giant mechs fighting against GDI's own mechs and powerful tanks. The UNSC officers were taken aback when they saw the Awakened rise up from the ground and began to attack GDI troops in waves.

"Good Lord, how did a terrorist organization get to this level of power over the years?" Roland asked.

"Well, to answer that we would have to talk about two subjects that allowed them to get to that level." Cole said to the UNSC AI. "The first is the second threat that we mentioned before. In 1995, a meteor clashed on Earth on the Tiber River in Italy. The crash caused a large amount of destruction on anything nearby as per normal meteor impacts. However, this meteor contained a certain organism that would end up spreading throughout Earth much like a plague or parasite that would seek to consume everything. A crystal that would render much of the world uninhabitable, caused the creation of dangerous weather conditions, mutated animals that became several times more dangerous then normal ones, and would almost bring our humanity to edge of extinction, similar to your own experience with the Covenant but different in a several ways."

"What was it?" Miranda questioned.

Wes then brought up images of a glowing green crystal that was growing from the ground and expanding into large patches and even fields of the crystal in multiple areas and even throughout nations that were infected. They also looked at a similar blue crystal that was growing as well, but in smaller amounts which made it a rare sight. "This crystal is known as Tiberium, named for the meteor hitting the Tiber river and causing Earth to nearly become a death world. The comparison Commander Masters made about it being a plague or parasite is accurate as it continually expanded across Earth over the over 80 years we had to try and stop it."

"Tiberium is unique in that was the crystal grows and expands, it absorbs more of the material and minerals from the ground. It sucks them up much like how plants can absorb water in soil, bringing it into the crystal itself, which is the main plus GDI sees in it since it makes gets those materials easier then drilling into the earth to extract it." He then bring ups images of GDI Harvesters from the different eras, showing them collect Tiberium crystals inside them and drive them over to the processing plants in order for the mineral extraction process to occur. "To help collect the crystal in larger amounts, GDI had built Harvesters to go into the Tiberium fields to harvest them clean so they can be used for getting materials needed in the production of our weapons and equipment. The Harvesters bring the crystals to our special processing plants were we separate the gathered minerals from the crystal and use it to produce energy for our power plants and to have a useful on hand supply of material."

Roland and Cortana both couldn't help but be impressed by the process that GDI used to pull minerals out of the crystal to be ready for use. They could easily see the crystal being spread onto asteroids in order to collect the large amounts of minerals in them for greater ease then that of regular mining equipment. With the crystals absorbing the minerals into their structure, all you would just need would be a processing plant that could separate them from the crystal and send them off to be used for factories building weapons and vehicles, along with materials for buildings and give them such a large amount they could be able to use it for multiple large scale construction projects. If the UNSC had gotten such a thing during the war and knew how to control it, they could have gotten a large amount of materials to help produce more weapons for their military which would allow them to have brought in the vehicles that were in the prototype phase into production sooner.

"Wait a sec, you've been mentioning so far that you've just used what was inside the Tiberium." Roland spoke in an inquisitive tone. "Why is it that you never used the material itself? Was it because using it was going to further affect the environment or was there another reason?"

"An understandable question there Roland," Wes said, "the thing is that GDI has a pretty strict stance against using Tiberium for our weaponry with a few exceptions. We saw the crystal as it was nothing more then a parasite at the time and while it would assist in advancing our weaponry, we didn't since it would lower ourselves to that of Nod's level. I know it sounds quite foolish, why would we decide to not use a crystal that could help advance our forces to a greater degree in terms of firearms, heavy weaponry, and ways to better produce power. However if we did use it Nod would be able to point us out in being hypocrites and utilize it in order to gain more public support, not only that but those in GDI knew that through enough hardwork and research we could be able to develop similar weapons without the use of the material in it."

Roland was curious as to how Wes had said the reasons as to why they barely used Tiberium, then again if say the UNSC used something that was uncontrollable there would be a reason as to why they would ever use it. If the weapon they used ended up hurting their own forces, it would only be needed for situations that it would only be used on battlefields where the only ones that would be affected would be the enemy. "Wait, you said that because that Tiberium _was_ a parasite, does that mean you found a way to bring it under control?"

"That's correct." Raven replied. "Due to the actions of one of our best agents, he had sent us data on a project known as the Tiberium Control Network or TCN. It centers on the use of special nodes that were connected to an alien structure via different wires and pipes connected that had been set up in Italy near the impact site of the Tiberium meteor by an alien race that we'll discuss to you later, creating signals that was able to halt and start pulling back the spread of Tiberium. Following the end of the Fourth Tiberium War, once the fighting was over, we had access to all of the technology needed to build master nodes which allow us to control the spread of Tiberium on different planets which allows us access to a practically unlimited amount of the crystal to pull from minerals from for our war machine."

The UNSC personnel were impressed that GDI had finally gotten their hands "I'm going to guess that because it spread across the planet that GDI had divert a good sized percentage in stopping or slowing its advance? If you had the fate of Humanity along with the planet in the balance, you weren't able to focus all of your efforts on stopping Nod?"

"Indeed," Wes spoke up. "the situation with the Tibeirum got to the point where a few of GDI's Director Generals in the lead up to the Third Tiberium War had to cut funding to the military in order to assist in the reclamation efforts prior to 2062 as following the Second Tib War, we had found out that special harmonic frequencies were able to break down the crystals that were growing at the time. Therefore, GDI had chosen following TW2 to focus on getting enough manpower and resources to try and start pushing back against the spread of Tiberium to start saving land that would have been considered lost years before. While for the next several years it was working, eventually Tiberium mutated to where the harmonic weaponry and frequencies were ineffective, which put humanity in a truly perilous situation as it truly seemed all hope was lost."

He then brought up images of the world with parts of the world being colored blue, yellow, and red with the dates of the maps next to them. They then began to move forward as more areas turned yellow and red overtime with the parts of the world colored blue getting smaller and smaller. "See, during the Tiberium spread, the UN had made up a scale in which areas that had or didn't have Tiberium would be colored to show if they were safe or hazardous. Blue Zones were areas that were safe from Tiberium spread, meaning that any wildlife, animals and people wouldn't be at risk of Tiberium spread. However, they had only a small fraction of the world's population They were the ares that GDI focused on projecting as they were considered the safest places on Earth and made damn sure to protect those living in those zones.

"Next are Yellow Zones, where Tiberium is spreading, but is still capable of being inhibited. Most of the world's population was located in these areas where society had broken down due to the damage Tiberium had caused to them, with the infrastructure falling apart and areas being reducing to ruin via the collapse of the local economies. These areas were where Nod was able to have an iron grip on the population as they were able to provide the aid going to them, even going as far as convincing a good amount of the population believe that GDI would be drawing the borders that would separate the world via the zones

"Finally, there are Red Zones, where the Tiberium contamination is at the level where no normal human would be able to survive with all of the adverse weather conditions that it produces, including Ion Storms. You would need special suits in order to work in them without being affected by the concentration of Tiberium or using power armor that is able to protect the people using them from Tiberium infection. The only ones that were able to live in the Red Zones are humans mutated by Tiberium and the creatures that exist due to the crystal. By the 2047, 30% of the planet was turned into Red Zones as Tiberium spread more and more until 2062 where 98% of the world was one big Red Zone."

Lasky and Miranda were surprised to hear that GDI's situation had gotten that bad to where they were almost wiped out by the spread of Tiberium. It did remind them a little of the Flood with how similar they were in being uncontrollable and how dangerous they were when there wasn't a way to stop them. "Care to explain what happens to people and other creatures come into contact with Tiberium?" Lasky questioned.

Wes then brought of images of humans and animals that were infected by Tiberium. Humans showed their skin turning green and becoming more crystal-like but it also showed that some only had small amounts of Tiberium appearing on the skin in patterns that looked like stylized tattoos or having large patches of the the crystal on their skin. Then, images of people that were mutated by Tiberium began to have less of the crystal appear on their body but the main physical feature was that their eyes glowed green, with several of them dating to many decades later then around the times of the Four Tiberium Wars.

"Those that come into contact with Tiberium undergo unique mutations that end up with the symptom of having their skin turn green with crystals growing in their skin as the infection spreads through their body. This is a process known as Tiberium Toxemia or Tiberium poisoning, where if the patience is exposed to Tiberium directly for long enough, the substance will take over their body and eventually kill them or if they breathed in Tiberium particles the crystal would start to form in their lungs and eventually kill them in that way. However, most of the time humans that were exposed to Tiberium will turn into mutants which parts of their skin covered in Tiberium crystals. However, over the course of decades, mutants were then able to develop a key trait which is glowing green eyes."

"Really?" Palmer questioned.

"Observe," Cole said with a smile as he turned to Castor. "Castor, care to show them?"

Castor nodded as she pressed a button on the side of her helmet as it pulled back, showing her face to the UNSC personnel. She didn't have any crystals on her face but when she opened her eyes, they could see her eyes glowing green, the glow rippling like water on her irises.

"See mutants in the past weren't treated as well by normal humans, which is way they were outsiders in the minds of those in the Blue Zones. This was especially in the case of a particular group of Mutants known as the Forgotten, a confederation of mutants that was formed to keep order and would shift ways to either Nod or GDI. However, Nod had attempted to use them for a special super soldier project that would place mutants as a key force that Nod could use to strike harder against GDI, even going as far as having some of their agents dress up like GDI soldiers to insinuate a war between the Forgotten and GDI." Castor spoke up. "This is largely due to Tiberium Mutants having above average strength and resilience to not only weapons fire, but also to the elements with some modern Mutants being able to stand up to attacks from flamethrowers and Flame Tanks for a bit before it becomes too intense.

"Eventually, the Forgotten sided with GDI due to a co-operative mission that saved their original leader Tratos and helped to track down a super weapon that Nod had developed called the World Altering Missile, which was an ICBM whose warhead was pure Tiberium. Nod's goal was to have the missile explode in atmosphere, causing the Tiberium to spread across the globe and inflect all carbon-based lifeforms. Thankfully, a combined GDI-Forgotten force led by Micheal McNeil, one of our most prominent and famous leaders infiltrated their main base and stopped the missile from being launched."

"Later," Castor continued, "following what became known as the Firestorm Crisis, GDI had helped to set up G-330X habitats where the Mutants could live in as they struggled to have a new leader step up. Eventually, one did in the form of Athos, who would lead the Then following the end of the Fourth Tiberium War, GDI passed the Mutant Civil Rights Act which gave full rights to all Mutants who chose to join GDI and included Mutants fully joining the military as specialists whose powers could assist soldiers in battle, commanders of their own units, and eventually regular soldiers fighting alongside regular humans. Thus, the Forgotten had finally joined GDI as an ally and member faction with all of the rights normal civilians were given and it allowed the evolution of Mutants to becoming more powerful and an integral part of GDI's military might."

Miranda and Lasky nodded, there was no doubt having a race or group of beings as strong as Tiberium Mutants was important if GDI didn't want to have a another enemy force to deal with on top of dealing with Nod.

John then spoke up. "So all of the powers that Castor has is due to her being a Tiberium mutant?"

"Well Master Chief," Wes spoke up, "Tiberium Mutants did develop the ability to create, harness and control lighting into different shapes and could shoot it out. However, it was revealed in the early 2090's from files taken from old Nod bases and the members of Nod that had chosen to join GDI after the disappearance of the main Brotherhood that Nod undergone experiments to see about a new form of power that they were planning on using to create powerful individuals capable of decimating entire units of soldiers along with being used to extract information."

He then pulled up images of GDI soldiers, Special Forces units, and Commandos moving around objects and creating purple energy that was used to blast away at targets. "What we found was research into psionics. Thus when GDI chose to see about making their own psionic users they drew from not only humans that were tested positive to have the power, but also Tiberium Mutants since they had such impressive abilities. In more recent years, more and more people, especially Mutants had the ability to use psionics which has made those in our most elite units into literal one man armies."

Cole then gestured to Castor, "As a matter of fact, Castor is widely considered to be in the running to be the most powerful in terms of psionic ability. So soon enough, she'll be an absolute terror to anyone that faces her."

"Oh come now Commander, you're must saying that to butter me up." Castor said in a playful tone, a symbol of their camaraderie both past and present.

The UNSC personnel couldn't help but once again be impressed by what they had out about their new friends.

"So I have to ask, with all of the plans that Nod had and the manpower they were able to gather from the four wars you had with them, how were they able to grow into such a fighting force?" Miranda questioned. "Who led the Brotherhood against your people and tried to turn your Earth into a giant green crystal?"

Cole, Raven, and Wes's faces turned into ones of anger. Each of them looked at each other and nodded, knowing that the UNSC should know about the being that had caused them no shortage of grief for decades. The "man" that had led the Brotherhood against them for so long and had found ways to outsmart and outmaneuver their forces on a number of occasions. The man that had come back from the dead three times, twice from an ion cannon firing down upon him, and once from impalement via Tiberium spike from General McNeil in the last battle of the Second Tiberium War. Wes then brought up footage of a particular speech that was done at the start of the Third Tiberium War, one that had spawned a worst conflict the GDI and suffered at that point in its history.

"Here's a video of Nod's original leader, one that he had made after he had launched a missile destroying the GDSS _Philadelphia,_ our main space station that was the center of a Energy summit with the most of GDI's military and political members participating in it. However, following a covert strike that took down the anti-missile system that we had set up in space and launched a missile that destroyed the station."

The UNSC saw a bald man in his 30s in a ornate room that was bathed in red light. He had on black and red robes on him, much like that of a priest of a religion. He had a black goatee on his face with a look in his eyes of a man that was sophisticated, intelligent, and cunning. He had a certain air of charisma about him, much like that of the dictators of old who also happened to be skilled at being great orators, making speeches that would whip thousands behind their beliefs.

 _"The destruction of the Philadelphia was no accident. It was a merciful bullet to the head of a_ _malignant ideology. It was the death of fear and the birth of hope! Rejoice, children of Nod! Transformation is coming. A new day will dawn."_

The UNSC personnel no doubt had a similar vibe from this individual as they had gotten from the Prophets that had led the Covenant during the War. They had spoken greatly of how Humanity had desecrated the sites of the Forerunners and it was the will of their gods to cleanse humans from existence for their sins. They were able to unite the various aliens of the Covenant together as a powerful force that had decimated the UNSC in nearly every battle they had with them in Space and on the ground. This man they were seeing was much like them in terms of being a religious leader, but seemed to be far more dangerous then they were.

"Say hello to Kane, the original leader of the Brotherhood of Nod and the man said to be their Messiah." Wes said as he brought up more images of the man. "This is the man who was able to get the original Brotherhood up to the level of power they possessed for almost 80 years. He was incredibly intelligent, always able to out think our own forces in almost every point in the wars. Nod's intelligence gathering and deception skills had gotten to the point where our own intelligence agency, Intelligence Operations or InOps, ended getting the unfortunate punchline of, "On a good day, InOps might be able to tell that Tiberium is green" which stuck for years after the Fourth Tiberium War."

"Damn, sounds like Nod could have been a serious problem even for ONI at its best." Palmer said. _'Maybe even Admiral Parangosky at her best would be having problems.'_ While most of the actions done by the Office of Naval Intelligence had been controversial to say the least, they had proven to be what helped the UNSC out during critical points in the battles against the Insurrection and the Covenant. Their power had grown to the point where they were easily able to keep track of practically any UNSC operation and were able to use their sources they had prior to Lord Hood handing back control to the UEG and were able to deal a good amount of damage to Insurrectionist cells across UNSC space at planets that were being reclaimed and terraformed following the Human-Covenant War's end. To hear that this terrorist group turned global superpower was able to out smart GDI was concerning to them.

"ONI?" Cole questioned.

"It stands for Office of Naval Intelligence, our primer intelligence unit for both espionage and gathering Intel. We'll be sure to fill you in later about it." Miranda said.

"Understood," Raven said with a nod. "Anyway, Kane was also known for his famous speeches, able to inspire many in the Yellow Zones to side with the Brotherhood as they had provided aid and support for those in those areas. This in turn gave him a massive pool of manpower for his forces and a way for him to gather intelligence if they moved into the Blue Zones or were brought into GDI protection. He had only had taken off guard a few times in the past, mainly by the Commanders that led GDI in the Tiberium Wars and when one of his own creations, an AI known as CABAL had betrayed him."

"Unreal..." Lasky said with a bit of surprise in his voice. "This Kane really sounds like a real piece of work

"Actually, the thing is Kane... isn't what you could call human." Raven said with a begrudging tone.

"How do you mean?" John questioned."

"See, the reason why Nod lost in the first three Tiberium Wars was that we killed Kane which helped to break their forces down." Raven said. "And before you say it, yes somehow he was able to come back from the dead even though we had blasted him twice with our Orbital Ion Cannons and once was when in TW2 he was impaled on a Tiberium spike in the middle of a battle." Wes then showed them said images of the "deaths" of Kane, both times where he hit by the Ion Cannon (the second one they wondered about the massive explosion afterward but didn't raise any voices), and saw the video where Kane was impaled.

That caused a bit of concern for the UNSC personnel. The ways that Kane was killed would have been entirely fatal, either complete atomization or the heart being pierced through. However, Wes had also brought up images of Kane, alive and well in the subsequent wars, making his speeches and ordering his generals to action against GDI. It did seem to them that perhaps the idea of clones wasn't too far fetched, but even then the UNSC knew clones would end up aging faster so they would have been able to see some kind of trait on Kane that would have given it away. However, since they seemed to die within enough time to not have those features appear, they could guess the cloning idea held water

"For many years and decades afterward, we have tried to come up with theories as to how Kane survived all of those deaths. One was that he was some kind of alien with an incredible lifespan with remarkable regenerative abilities. Another is that he kept specialized clones that would continue to act as he did and lead Nod into battle against us and we wouldn't be able to tell the difference. Another is that he found a way to upload his consciousness into a computer to be transferred into a clone body or a robot that moved exactly like a human." Cole said with a frown.

"However, there was another that was considered so out there it would have been impossible to even consider as fact. However, after reading through his old journals, looking at several artifacts that Kane had kept in his personal quarters and secret vaults, that very same insane theory became more and more likely. It soon got to the point where after all of the evidence was gathered and the conclusion was clearly made, many in GDI saw it as completely impossible and crazy. However, those same detractors would soon come to understand that theory was in fact, more and more plausible."

"What was the theory? What was it that was so unbelievable?" Miranda questioned, concerned as to where it was going.

"Tell me," Raven said with a serious look on his face, "are you familiar with the story of Cain and Abel?"

"You mean of the two brothers in the Bible where when they both had made sacrifices to God, God had chosen Abel's and Cain killed him as a result of his jealousy?" Lasky said. He had heard about some of the Biblical stories from Christian friends of his during his days in Marine Boot Camp prior to the attack on Corbulo Academy during the war.

"Not only that air." Cortana said as she appeared on the table for all to see. "When they mentioned the Brotherhood being called Nod, I checked to see if it matched up with my theory. I looked and found out that in the Bible after Abel's murder, Cain was exiled to what was known as the "Land of Nod" which he ended up in Enoch."

"But if that's the case..." Miranda said as she thought it over, before her eyes widened in surprise at what both were insinuating "Cortana, please don't tell me that what and Admiral Raven are is true. That wouldn't even be possible. And the implications of it would be too immense!"

"I'm sorry Captain, many like you spoke out about how impossible it was for it to happen and what this meant in the religious community and historians. However, in the end, what we had gathered from Nod's secrets, Kane's own writings and the artifacts that were found, there was no denying it any more." Raven said with a sigh. "Kane was in fact, against all odds of scientific reasoning and logic, the very first murderer of the Bible. He was Cain, the killer of Abel and the one banished by God."

That was the one that threw the UNSC for a complete loop, to the point where even the Spartans (even the IIs) were speechless. The idea of some kind of supernatural force, something that would have only made since in fiction , was completely insane. Now while they were well aware of what the Forerunners and some idea of the Precursors and the feats they had accomplished, they were still believable since it was via using highly advanced technology. But the idea of the man they were seeing being a being from the Bible, a being that would have truly been immortal since those that knew of the story knew of Cain's curse that prevented him from dying from any known cause couldn't even be possible.

However, if it was true, that meant GDI had fought against a being that had the knowledge of thousands of years behind him and won in the end.

"In fact, those images we showed you of him during the Third Tibeirum War?" Raven spoke up, "Here's a couple from GWW2 that may surprise you." Wes then brought up images of Stalin as he was surrounded by his officers and key officials. Then one appeared along with a short video that showed (much to the shock of the UNSC) that Kane himself was speaking with Stalin and even had taken pictures with the Soviet dictator.

"That's impossible!" Palmer yelled out. "The guy was around during your World War 2?!" She then looked to ones of the Third Tiberium War where he had undergone planning with his generals on how to cripple GDI on the outset of the War. "Hell, looking at these images, he doesn't look to be a day over 30!"

"Believe me Commander Palmer, the idea was the actual Cain from the Bible from something even those in the Christian Church in a state of utter shock, that we fought against one of the original sinners." Raven said. "However, we had also found out other images as well that only helped that very idea. This one, taken at one point in the Temple of Nod which was the headquarters of the Brotherhood, only further helped that argument." He then had Wes bring up an image of a black coffin to the UNSC, enhancing the image to where they saw a single word on the coffin:

ABEL.

Miranda was know putting her index fingers to her temples and rubbed them. To say that the revelations they had gotten on GDI was beyond words, to the point where it would have only happened in a crazy sci-fi novel or whatnot. A parasitic crystal from space? A machine that could teleport vehicles around that was made by one of the most intelligent people in the world? A massive terrorist organization with the power of a global superpower which was religious in many of its beliefs and actions in their minds led by a man who was an actual person from the holy book of the largest religion in Human history?

 _'If Lord Hood, President Dennison, and Admiral Osman heard about this, they would almost not believe it if they didn't have the evidence in front of them like we are.'_ she thought. _'If I were a different person, I would completely disbelieved our new friends and called them crazy. However, I can tell that Raven and his people are telling the truth based on their tone and the evidence I'm seeing. Dear God, this even makes what we know of the Forerunners and Precursors seem easier to swallow.'_

Lasky was lambasted by what he was seeing in front of him. He had experienced all of the chaos, carnage, and destruction of the Covenant War both in the few battles he was in and saw via videos from the various battles of the war. However, what GDI had laid out in front of him almost blew those out of the water. To hear that a person that existed only in the pages of a religion's book that was an actual being in another universe but also that it nearly defeated the organization that these new humans belonged to was something that only the craziest person's dreams would have produced.

 _"God, I think I'm going to need several YEARS in order to digest this information.'_ He thought.

The Spartans were concerned about the revelation, even the IIs that had experienced the entirety of the Human-Covenant War. They saw Nod as a target that would have been a target to eliminate if they had appeared in their world. It didn't matter to them how advanced they were in terms of some areas of technology as the IIs would have gone against them all the same since they were pretty much a human version of the Covenant with Carter and Palmer also having the same ideas. However, to find out something like Kane being from something like the Bible (the Spartan IIs didn't have a real opinion on religion all things considered, they only focused on what was in front of them and what they knew about the universe around them) did make them somewhat concerned to them including John, who had seen so much in his life during the War.

"If you want Captain, we can stop telling you about Kane and move on to another enemy that we had faced." Raven suggested. He knew that while the UNSC must have encountered things that would have surprised GDI if they had appeared in their universe (and would have thrown GDI for a bit of a loop), the fact that they had finally understood why it was Kane had survived death three times and the reason he seemed so ridiculously knowledgeable as a hard pill to swallow.

"Y-yeah, that may help us to... settle down with what you've shown us." Miranda said. A focus on a topic that wasn't as mind-blowing and utterly crazy as what GDI had revealed to them would help keep their sanity in check. "So... who was this other enemy?"

"They were ironically, the reason as to why Tiberium had appeared on Earth in the first place." Raven said as Wes switched the images of Kane and Nod to ones that showed what appeared to be mechanical insects crawling over Tiberium crystals and fighting against GDI and even Nod units. They weren't fully machines as the UNSC could tell they had some organic areas to them, especially from the corpses that GDI had gathered. They also saw several vehicles used by these beings that looked insect-like in some of their larger ships and what looked to be black holes that their kind came out from.

"These are the Scrin, an insectoid race of bio-mechanical beings that possessed a large intergalactic empire that as known for seeding planets with Tiberium before taking it over." Raven said. "They did this by use of sub-light speeds of travel and their mastery of creating wormholes that could range from appearing from side of a planet to the other, to taking large unit on one planet and having them go to other solar systems. This was made via special wormhole generators and the structures known as Thresholds which are also control points for the spread of Tiberium. Their whole military and economy is based around Tiberium, being used for its technology and weaponry to a greater extent then even Nod could only dream of. After the end of the Tiberium Wars as Kane and his followers left Earth, we had engaged the Scrin in Six Wars, the final three being the ones that totaled up to 20 billion deaths as we have said prior."

"So they're the reason why Tiberium even appeared on your planet at all?" Lasky questioned.

"That's correct Commander Lasky," Raven said, "They were dormant for some time with some of their forces on the rim of the galaxy, waiting for something to trigger their awakening. It happened in the form of a Tiberium explosion during TW3, the same one you saw where an Ion struck at Kane's headquarters in Sarajevo where originally the First Tiberium War ended. Nod during the Third War had been constructing a Liquid Tiberium bomb, a powerful explosive that is ten times stronger then that of a 200 megaton nuclear bomb. If detonated, it would have also caused a chain reaction with Tiberium in the area adding to the overall destruction of the weapon. As you'll see later, the damage that such a weapon could cause and that it could easily kill millions if used in an area that had enough amounts of Tiberium was so great, GDI made sure that any bombs they made from the blueprints that Nod had was decommissioned since it using the weapon would have been considered a war crime."

 _'Since we did see how massive the explosion was in when they used their Ion Cannon on Nod's temple, it is more powerful then even most of our own nukes, excluding most powerful of them like the Shiva and the NOVA bomb.'_ Miranda thought.

"After the bomb went off turning the most of the Yellow Zones in the Balkans into full on Red Zones, the Scrin appeared in one of their main ships. The person who was the head of GDI at that time ordered the Ion Cannon Defense Network to fire upon the incoming vessel. While it was destroyed, dozens of pods containing Scrin forces landed across the Earth and began their assault, taking most of our forces by surprise. They used swarm tactics like overwhelming numbers of aerial drones and ground units to win the battles both GDI and Nod had against them. Eventually we ended up finding two weaknesses with a third that we found out in the Fifth Scrin War." Wes then brought up images of GDI and Nod soldiers fighting against Scrin units with certain weapons that were able to have more affect then regular projectile weapons.

"One was Sonic weaponry which was since it was effective against Tiberium with their weapons and mechanical bodies based around it, which allowed for all of the Sonic Emitter cannons and vehicles armed with harmonic resonance weaponry that was originally used for destroying Tiberium fields which was able to prove useful against large numbers of Scrin units."

"Well, that's either convenient or pretty impressive that your people had the weaponry you needed on hand." Lasky said with a slight smirk.

"Indeed, I guess all the funding we did put into the reclamation efforts did amount to something that helped in a military sense." Raven said with a chuckle.

"Next up were Nod's Catalyst missiles, which were actually more liquid Tiberium weapons on a smaller scale. Due to this, they proved effective against Scrin units and could kill multiple groups of them if they were moving through Tiberium fields due to the chain reaction. When Nod had discovered this, they began producing so many of the damn things that they had thousands on hand in the Fourth Tiberium War where we needed to develop CIWS platforms of certain vehicles to intercept the large amount of them that Nod launched at us." Raven said as the UNSC could images of the missiles impacting Scrin units and tearing their formations apart.

"Last but not least during the Fifth Scrin War, Tiberium Mutants who had blasted Scrin units with their lighting powers were able to find another weakness. Due to their mainly mechanical structure, large enough blasts of lightning are able to take them down, especially their pure drones or the Scrin that are fully mechanical that they had begun producing due to the losses we had given them during the Scrin Wars." The UNSC then saw images of GDI soldiers with green colored power armor along with ones with either white colored or a combination of the two blasting lighting at groups of Scrin with a gun with what looked to be coil around its barrel, the electricity arcing and stunning those close to their original target. "Thus it caused G-Labs, our main research and development department, was able to develop the GD-24 Coil Cannon in order to deal with them in more members then just relaying on Mutant powers to deal with them in the fastest way possible."

Miranda and Lasky easily saw how dangerous the Scrin were in battle. Their swarm tactics reminded them of how the Flood would rush at both UNSC and Covenant forces in overwhelming waves. However, unlike the Flood, the Scrin had access to advanced weaponry that they could see were able to badly damage GDI ships from what they could see in terms of space combat from the images GDI was showing off. Bright green energy lasers fired from their largest ships were able to blast enough to take down GDI's energy shields and even get through the armor of GDI ships.

"Well then, now that you know about our enemies, it's time we finally get into our history." Raven told the UNSC personnel.

"Well you've already shown us so many things about your enemies and what you had to face, but since we've seen a side to things that's in the realm of supernatural with Kane may as well continue." Miranda said as those in the UNSC nodded in a agreement.

"Understood Captain, now to begin our tale in earnest." Raven said.

He began to cover the events surrounding the wars they've experienced from the First Tiberium War onward. They told the UNSC about the beginning of TW1 and various campaigns through which GDI fought Nod. They spoke of the GDI campaigns in Europe along with the battles in North Africa with Nod's forces led by a figure known as Seth, who was later killed by Kane for attempting a coup against the Messiah. They then showed off the fighting going from the invasion of Estonia to the liberation of Greece, which was the main turning point of the conflict in Europe as Nod was now being surrounded on multiple fronts. They then showed the encirclement of Nod in Ukraine, which force Nod to capture the Bosporus in order to help resupply their forces there, to nations like Turkey and the southern Balkans joining GDI which helped to push Nod further and further back.

"After surrounding Nod's temple at Sarajevo, General Sheppard wanted our forces to assault the temple as he said and I quote, 'Destroy the Bastard.' However, they had reinforced their defenses there, which made moving forward against their forces difficult even with the build up that had been commencing prior to the eventual push."

"However, during this time, another key figure would come into play and help to turn the tide into our favor. He was the man all of our Commandos would look up to and push themselves to get to in terms of combat skill. In fact, he would write the book for future Commandos, with all of the tactics and strategies we still use and teach today." Raven said. He then nodded to Wes who brought up images of a man with a strong jawline and military buzz-cut hair with a couple of scars on his face, one bring in the shape of an x on his left cheek. They then saw images of him fighting against multiple groups of Nod soldiers, beating the odds stacked against him no matter how many soldiers and vehicles that Nod tossed at him.

"Meet our most famous Commando, Colonel Nick Seymour Parker, better known as the first Havoc." Raven said with a smirk.

The UNSC personnel that didn't have helmets on widened their eyes as they looked to Centurion Havoc as he had his arms crossed and as in a more relaxed position. "If your wondering about why I have the same nickname as Colonel Parker, it's because I have a... special connection with him." The Centurion said, a wide smile under his helmet. "He didn't want to reveal him being Havoc's descendant just yet, that would be until the right time came to show himself to the UNSC and they had earned his trust.

They then brought up footage of a mission that Nick Parker was on as he was with a group of soldiers as one of them spoke to the original Havoc in a Scottish accent. _"Havoc, take your troops and destroy the SAMs to the east."_

Havoc, responded to that with his devil may care and gung-ho attitude.

 _"Havoc, go blow up this, Havoc, go blow up that! Good thing I don't get tired of it."_

They then played a few more lines from the 1st Havoc such as:

 _"Time to rock and roll!"_

 _"I thought you guys were Special Forces! Do something... special!"_

 _"Congrats kids! We rank as a nuclear threat!"_

 _"One thing I like about this place, lots of stuff to blow up."_

 _"Conflict of interest? No heh... I've got interest in conflict."_

Master Chief couldn't help but have a faint smirk inside his helmet at then Captain Parker's attitude. It reminded him very much about his fallen comrade Sergeant-Major Avery Johnson, the same care towards taking on the enemy and also saying things that made them seem like this was Tuesday for them. In fact, he could easily have seen the two getting along Based on what he had seen of the original Havoc, the Commando would have fit in with soldiers of the Orion Project, also known as the SPARTAN-1 Program. His skills alone could put above the ODSTs in terms of skill and the mindset needed to go into crazy or even suicidal missions but didn't it stop them from doing what their duty.

 _'I think we may have found their closest guy to Johnson. He would have loved to meet him.'_ Both Miranda and Cortana thought.

"Nick Parker was a captain at the time of the First Tiberium War, well known to many in Nod's high command as to how dangerous he was." Raven said as more images showed up showing the battles and missions the first Havoc fought. "He was assigned a series of missions that led to the shutdown of Nod's Project ReGenesis, an attempt to use Tiberium to create genetically enhanced super soldiers in order to help them win the war. It was commissioned under Nod General Raveshaw and a faction of Nod known as the Black Hand. Through a series of missions with both his team the Dead 6, Sydney Mobius, the daughter and follow Tiberium researcher of her father Dr. Ignatio Mobius, and a mercenary that he had worked with in the past named Sakura Obata, Havoc was able to destroy the main facility that was working on ReGenesis around the same time the final battle of the war was occurring."

"Amazing how he was steadfast and loyal to GDI but always found a way to butt heads with his superiors." Palmer noted with a smirk. The way how Nick Parker spoke and acted seemed like something out of a 1980's action movie, where buff men how were expert shots and hand to hand fighters said one liners as they dealt with whatever poor schmuck tried to stop them. "Also, I'm going to guess Parker had a relationship with Obata?"

"Pretty much, to the point where they always exchanged banter when they run into each other." Cole said with a smirk.

"Anyway, after the First Tiberium War, Tiberium continued to spread out and GDI was struggling to find ways to slow down or stop its spread entirely. It was then we began to run into a few new problems. Due to the need of the war effort, the UN had begun to transfer more and more executive power to GDI until it would eventually turn into a world government, with the UN only having limited power from then on as time passed. Eventually, military service became important as GDI needed to maintain a strong force along with advancing technology in order to match up deal with Nod along with the spread of Tiberium."

"I'm guessing that steps had to be taken in order to try and stem Nod infiltration?" Miranda questioned.

"Indeed Captain, Nod's infiltration had gotten so much to the point where GDI had no choice but to enact measures to... keep a watch on the lives of everyone under GDI protection." Raven said with a frown.

"Wait, you ended up going to the route of watching and invading others privacy?" Roland spoke up. "Nod infiltration had gotten to the point were you need to go down that route?" The AI knew full well that if a government had gotten to the point where they had to keep tabs on the lives of its citizens in order to prevent terrorist attacks and actions from happening, he figured that the opposing side must be incredibly skilled in infiltration and espionage.

"Indeed, the paranoia that GDI had gained about all of Nod's reach in the world was that bad Roland." Wes said to the _Infinity's_ AI. "If there was the chance that Nod could get into our most top secret projects and tried to bring down our forces from within, we had to consider that the loss of people's privacy was the only way to make sure Nod couldn't find ways to bring down GDI. If it does lessen the blow, we did lessen the watch on others after Nod and Kane left."

Miranda understood that while it did seem wrong to take the rights of civilians away, it was needed since the military would need the resources of most industries in order to keep their soldiers in the field armed, well-supplied, and equipped to operate where ever they were needed. It was the same case for the UNSC during the War with the Covenant, since over the years where humanity was being pushed back so the UEG had no choice but to concede many of the civil liberties that they had in order to focus on the war and ONI kept closer watch on UNSC planets in order to prevent the Insurrection from taking advantage of the situation.

Raven then went on to discuss GDI's plan to weaken Nod by via a double agents known as General Hassan who was fragmenting Nod for a while. However, the plan had been found out and Hassan was executed in front of a massive Nod rally. Eventually, Kane had reappeared on the world stage as both sides began to fight over a piece of alien technology known as the Tacitus. They also went into the mission to stop the World Altering Missile they mentioned before which had led to the development of the Liquid Tiberium bomb that Nod and GDI would develop form the Third Tiberium War.

"What is this Tacitus Admiral? " Miranda asked.

"It's an ancient data matrix that allows the one who holds it better understanding of Tiberium and increases one technological development. In fact, the Tacitus improved our development by five times, allowing for the creation of our walker units and mechs, hover units and the creation of our Firestorm barrier, the very same one you saw on our while and what allowed us to take so much fire from the Covenant Armada's weaponry. Also, it was the Tacitus that allowed us to get the TCN in the first place. " Raven said as images of the first generation Wolverine, Titan, and Mammoth Mk II combat walkers and the Juggernaut artillery walked in action firing away at Nod bases defended by more advanced versions of Nod's Obelisks which was able to fire powerful lasers that could out GDI vehicles. Nod was also using more powerful cyborg units with heavy weaponry and the use of underground movie command centers. The air battles became more intense as new Nod Harpy attack aircraft and Banshee fighters took on the various versions of GDI's Orca aircraft. Not only that, but GDI was bringing in railguns, the first harmonic resonance weaponry alongside the introduction of the GDSS _Philadelphia_ , which acted as the main C&C center for GDI during the whole of TW2.

"Damn, you guys got walkers like that? If that is what you had in the past, I'd hate to see what you have now." Palmer commented.

"Indeed Commander Palmer, while the regular armed forces don't use as many types of mechs in battle there is a special unit in GDI that uses them in most of their forces as their mainstay to smash any enemy in front of them and to act as a mobile reaction force to go to where ever the heaviest fighting is. " Raven said as Wes brought up an image of a more stylized eagle. "This is the symbol of the Steel Talons, a special unit in GDI that uses the most advanced tech in our arsenal. They were founded by General Joshua "Mitch" Mitchell, a maverick that had risky but strong belief in new technology even if it was untested, but also believed in overwhelming and advanced firepower.

"We have our own mech units, but never on this scale of organization and size. " Miranda said as the UNSC saw videos of more advanced mechanical walkers over the various wars GDI fought. While the UNSC walkers such as the new armed version of the Cyclops and Assault Cyclops along with the newer Mantis and Colossus mechs in sizable numbers, they weren't in the numbers that GDI with its forces. Not only that, but their mechs were more modular since their weapons could switched out depending on the mission.

 _'And to think this was in their 21st century. Granted their tech development was greatly improved due to the war with Nod and the Tiberium spread., but it still amazes me that they were able to get such weapons in operation in large numbers.'_ Miranda thought. _'Thought if anything, we could get to their level as we have been planning for new versions of the Cyclops with Forerunner weapons.'_

GDI then brought up images of the Forgotten working together with them over the course of the war, with a few notable Mutants such as the Ghost Stalker, which possessed the ability to tank attacks from Flame Tanks at close range, and used a powerful railgun to attack his enemies, and Umagon who was a master of hand to hand combat. It was through their alliance with the Forgotten that allowed them to find the Nod base and launch an attack on it before Kane could launch the World Altering Missile. Led by General McNeil, they were able to take out the missile and during the melee, McNeil pushed the unconscious body of Kane onto a Tiberium spike, seemingly killing him.

"So I'm guessing after Kane's... other death, I'm guessing that it was returning to the status quo?" Lasky questioned.

"Well, one year later a new threat came about." Raven said as Wes brought up images of of an AI under Nod's control that Kane had created. "See, during the Tiberium Wars, we had developed a Semi-AI to assist us in both keeping track of events on the battlefield, assist in keeping track of available forces, and predicting outcomes of certain parts of a battle. It is known as the Electronic Video Agent or EVA, they've proven to be a critical asset for our operations since their creation. Nod also had use of them and were able to at points even hack into our own EVAs to make negative impacts against our over all forces. However, Nod was undergoing development of actual AI which would process information easier along with being able to better management of logistical and organizational fields and would be able to translate the information inside the Tacitus so Nod could better understand its secrets. It was known as the Computer Assisted Biologically Augmented Lifeform or CABAL. Kane had wanted it to be his hand that would lead the Brotherhood to victory. However, CABAL would soon betray Nod and begin to make its own force of robotic units against both of our forces. Therefore a truce was made between GDI and Nod in order to fight what became known as the Firestrom Crisis, and eventually take down CABAL for good."

"You see, for the longest time most in GDI were paranoid about making a true AI for fear of it using our weaponry against us in a bid for domination or the destruction of the human race." Cole spoke up. "It was until the 22nd Century where scientists began to experiment with AIs to show both civilian and military leaders that true Smart AI could assist GDI to a greater degree then EVA was able to be, and that they could remain loyal to us due to using a special process to create them. They used blueprints left by Nod on their other AI projects, mainly CABAL's sucessor, and began to experiment and improve from their designs, trying to develop Smart AI that wouldn't betray GDI when it chooses to . It took several tries and a few of them nearly turning against us, however, we were finally able to create the first true AI that was loyal to GDI. Soon enough, AI science took off to the point where the current generation can last for 50 to 100 years via technology advances using technologies that were pulled from the Tacitus re-guarding AI."

Raven then went on to discuss the expansion of sonic weapons in GDI and that they proved effective in breaking down the Tiberium in the state they were in. Thus, the reclamation effort was made and most of GDI's funding went to the effort to not only stop the progress of Tiberium, but to hopefully take back the land that it had infected. This caused most of the tech we had developed during TW2 and the Firestorm conflict to be decommissioned to save money, something that the original Havoc, who was now a Colonel, was amendment against. While we were able to keep the Wolverine and original Titan mechs in the Steel Talons along with upgrading the Hover MLRS and creating the next gen Disruptor vehicles which would prove effective against the Scrin, the Mammoth Mk II walker was decommissioned and replaced with the Mk III Mammoth tank or the M-27 Mammoth which would be the main Heavy MBT that would prove effective in the Third Tiberium War. Of course, while the switch to more conventional units was better in reducing production and maintenance costs, several in GDI argued against decommissioning the mech fleet. This included Nick Parker when he had been promoted.

"So the first Havoc didn't want the newer battle tanks to be in service?" Carter questioned.

"No, he understood their usefulness in battle and didn't cast them out as useless since they could make an impact. However, he didn't like GDI decommissioning the walker due to the problems of their legs being vulnerable to ground attack or sabotage. Then when the Mastodon was brought out in 2069 before TW4, he was glad to see that the bureaucrats got their act together." Raven said with a chuckle. "In fact when Colonel Parker died in 2084. he died with a smile on his face, glad that after all of the fighting he did, after everything he had done for GDI, the war with Nod was over and he finally could pass on in peace."

Raven then went up to the events leading to the Third Tiberium War with the first event being what became known as the Rio Insurrection. They told the UNSC about the new AI that Nod had made, known as LEGION (after Legion from the Bible) would led Nod units against the regular military, along with the Steel Talons and another faction known as Zone Command or ZOCOM.

"ZOCOM was founded by our first female general, Cassandra Elena Reteria and acts as the main force that is to go into Red Zones and protect the reclamation efforts. Their soldiers have intense training to prepare for dealing with going into Tiberium filled environments, which became the case when we dealt with the Scrin on Tiberium infected planets during the Scrin Wars. They usually focus on more mobile units and have outfitted their forces with more sonic weaponry in order to deal with Tiberium based or mutated lifeforms. Their equipment and vehicles are given more protection from Tiberium due to their work and have a Special Forces Unit known as Rapid Assault and Intercept Deployment or RAID which would prove to be the main unit that would fight against the Scrin's Second Invasion of Earth in 2058."

Wes showed images of the fighting in Rio which would show off the units that Nod would use in TW3 with an example being the Purifier which would evolve into the Avatar Mech. They also showed off battles with the most powerful units in both factions being the Mammoth Armored Reclamation Vehicle or MARV tank which really surprised the UNSC in that tit could be as powerful as their new M510 Mammoth but with three main guns to the Mammoth's one, and the Redeemer mech that Nod deployed with used multiple flamethrowers and two of the Obelisk laser cannons to tear apart GDI units that were sent against it. The UNSC were surprised to see the sheer size and power of the two weapons, seeing that they could be a match or better then the Covenant's infamous Scarab Walkers that had proven to be the most powerful ground unit that the Aliens used against them.

The fighting continued as LEGION would lead Kan'es loyalists to bring down the various splinter factions and reunite Nod into a singular force, then took the fight to GDI, taking on the Steel Talons until Nod stormed the GDI complex in the Rocky Mountains, which had thick defenses along with a Firestorm barrier that would prevent them from taking the object in question. After heavy fighting, Nod reclaimed the Tacitus as Kane would continue his studies into the alien artifact.

"Not only would Kane continue to reap the benefits of the Tacitus," Raven said, "another result of Kane once more using it was that we found out later, was that it activated a signal for the Scrin to come alive. This would prove to be a beacon for them to approach Earth along with detecting the explosion of the Liquid Tiberium Bomb. Not only that, but as we figured out later, he had planned for the Scrin to show up on Earth in order to reach the completion of his plans."

"No way," Palmer said. "that bastard planned to bring a literal alien invasion to Earth while you guys were dealing with the things you already had problems with? Christ, how far ahead did he think?"

"Believe us Commander Palmer," Cole said, "we still try to figure not how someone like Kane, even with the fact of him being immortal, was able to plan the whole thing out.

Then Raven and Cole went into detail on the first battle of TW3. Prior to the actual conflict that would the most deadly and destructive war fought by both groups, overall controls of the Ion Cannon Network (also known as the A-SAT or Attack Satellite Network) centered around Goddard Space Station due to the budget cuts on the military. Not only that, but Nod was able to convince InOps that there was no major activity following the end of the fighting in Rio, luring them into a false sense of security. The Nod forces where being led by Kilian Qatar, who would later betray Kane during TW3 as Kane reappeared and ordered the attack on Goddard which ended up taking out the A-SAT network and allowed them to take out the _Philadelphia,_ killing most of GDI's military and civilian heads in one fell swoop.

"Choosing to focus most of their budget towards the reclamation efforts and making such obvious weaknesses was the wrong call." John said. The Spartans couldn't believe how GDI had left the entire control of their best weapon system in one place and not have had at least a couple more sites they could control it from (mainly one that was well within GDI territory and under heavy guard), but also in that they didn't have enough security at Goddard itself in order to stop any attempt by Nod to take the facility.

"Trust me, most military historians and experts also believed that cutting the budget of GDI military to focus on pushing back Tiberium and having the A-SAT system controls in one place was a massive mistake. If anything, we were just glad that Nod was unable to use it to attack GDI positions." Raven said.

They then showed the destruction of the _Philadelphia_ and Nod unleashing a massive attack all over the World on GDI held areas and Blue Zones. From the fighting on the Eastern Seaboard in the US, to combat in South America and Africa, GDI was slowly able to gain an advantage due to the massive air fleet of V-35 Vox transports and large dropships bringing in GDI soldiers to quickly slow down and halt Nod's advance entirely. They also showed the appointment of General Jack Granger to the main commander of GDI forces and the Commissioner of the Treasury Raymond Boyle to the position of Secretary General due to the line of succession. The UNSC could tell that the GDI personnel had a level of dislike for Boyle if Raven, Cole, and Wes's faces looked to be. They also showed the images of the GDI Commander who fought from the Northeastern US Blue Zone to the final three fight between all three factions, Battle Commander Alexander Cunningham who was able to stand against overwhelming odds in the fighting in Washington D.C. with the Pentagon almost being overwhelmed.

They showed Kane's forces forcing back GDI units under the Command of the famous Legendary Insurgent, Battle Commander Jason Crowley, who led offensives in the US Eastern Seaboard, pushed back GDI forces in South America and protecting components for the Liquid Tiberium Bomb that Kane would construct at the Nod Temple, and would ascend to being Kane's second in command after Qatar was executed once he had returned. Qatar had chosen to make an alliance with GDI after the arrival of the Scrin in order to drive them off, but Kane returned and eventually did anyway with her.

They then showed the footage of GDI pushing Nod back to their temple in Sarajevo, being a complete repeat of the end of the First Tiberium War. During the battles prior to the assault on Nod's temple, word had gotten to GDI about Nod developed the Liquid Tiberium Bomb. However, the UNSC was stunned to hear what Director Boyle was telling the Commander to do.

"That idiot ordered an Ion Cannon strike on the temple despite the argument that the Tiberium Bomb could cause a massive explosion that could affect those in nearby Yellow Zones along with the chance of taking out his own people!?" Palmer said as she slammed her hands on the table. The UNSC personnel were not happy to see how someone like Boyle was completely unsympathetic to the people in the Yellow Zones and would have just written them off as "unfortunate casualties".

"Believe me, General Granger pleaded with him to not fire the Ion Cannon and Commander Cunningham was against the very same option. However, Boyle overwrote their actions and just fired the weapon away way while Cunningham tried to pull his forces back far enough to prevent major casualties. However, millions on both sides along with the civilians in the nearby areas were killed All Boyle ever cared about was making the public feel safe and that Kane was finally gone in order to win approval from the civilian population. In fact when the bastard went into hiding during the Scrin invasion, he had tried to get Cunningham to use a Liquid Tiberium Bomb in order to destroy the Scrin and Nod forces that were there." Raven said with a scowl.

Miranda soon gave off a smirk after controlling her anger towards the moronic Director General of the time. "Let me, guess he chose to not use to use it?"

Raven and Cole chuckled at the young Captain's question. "What do you think?" Raven said to Miranda.

The UNSC then saw images of the Scrin's first invasion of Earth, their drone ship dropping off thousands upon thousands of their units into different areas of the world, mainly Red Zones. Cunningham had been sent to Germany where the fighting was worse in order to get scientists and soldiers that were trapped the cities fighting for survival out of their predicament and how a few Elite Commandos were able to take out scores of Scrin units. One in particular, Lt. Roger Fullerton one of the best Commandos in the program and who was close to the same level skill and devastation that the original Havoc was able to cause. He was able to save several squads of GDI soldiers that were scattered across Stuttgart, Germany.

 _'Nice job as always... Ancestor.'_ Raider thought with a smile under his helmet.

Eventually, GDI focused its efforts in attacking the towers the Scrin were setting up all over the world and destroyed all but the one in Italy known as Threshold 19, the very same one that would prove key to the TCN years later. This was due to the large amount of Nod forces guarding the structure and the fact that by the time GDI forces were able to get to the tower after the intense fighting they had endured, it was closed up and indestructible to anything GDI could throw at it that wasn't a nuclear weapon. The battle at Ground Zero of the Tiberium Asteroid was massive in many ways, from the number of units both sides were tossing into the fight, to all sides tossing their best units into the battle. Eventually, Boyle presented the Liquid Tiberium Bomb to Commander Cunningham as to end the fight quickly and to get rid of Granger as he saw the man as a political threat and Granger telling the Commander that it wasn't the GDI way to use such a horrid weapon to win a battle and using it would speed up the spread of Tiberium and kill millions more in the process. Thankfully (and much to the respect of the UNSC), the Commander chose not to use the Bomb and won the old fashioned way. Boyle then stepped down in order to avoid war crimes due to him building the bomb but would face ridicule and outrage from others for the rest of his days for his actions.

"So what happened after winning what was the most deadly conflict between GDI and Nod?" Roland questioned.

"Well things soon began to fall apart, some time following TW3 the Tiberium crystals had undergone a change that made the sonic weaponry ineffective. This meant that our best chance to survive the Tiberium spread was snuffed out. This was caused by the Liquid Tiberium Bomb which had caused a mutation in the crystals which had made them resilient which meant that by 2062 that 98% of the world was a Red Zone." Wes then showed images of the planet almost completely covered in Tiberium as there was only a small area that humanity could safely live in without the need for specialized shelters.

"It was around this time where something unexpected happened. One of our best agents in Nod was able to send us blueprints of the TCN Network at the cost of his own life. He was in Nod for nearly a decade, feeding us intel about Kane's movements and where new Nod attack were coming. It was among the few times where Kane had been surprised by something he wasn't aware of. It was through the agent's luck that the man didn't find him out before it was too late and he lost his main bargaining chip." Wes then showed images and video of a man with black hair and brown eyes with one of his eyes begin cybernetic as it glowed red as he broke into the room containing the Tacitus as he manged to lock the heavy blast doors with a special code that he used to bring the doors down and give him sometime to send GDI the blueprints. He put in a flash drive that was able to assist him in getting the data he needed to send to his superiors. As he was ready to finally send to information, the doors blew open and he is shot in the back by a couple of laser bolts as he falls forward onto the console. Kane then walks in along with two of his Black Hand with heavy laser cannons in their hands as he looks on with anger at the man as he speaks.

 _"Well well... color me impressed Charles. It is very rare that someone was able to not only infiltrate my organization through such dumb luck. You should be proud in getting this far._

 _"Yeah..." Charles said as he looked up to Kane with a smirk. "Guess the Messiah isn't as all seeing as others think." He then, faster then anyone expected, pressed the button to send the blueprints to GDI as he then tossed a grenade at Kane while his guards fire upon him with one shooting him in the heart. He fell to the ground with a smile on his face as the data was transferred successfully to GDI as his program was able to send it before any of Kane's people were able to stop it. Kane then looks down at the body of one of the few men in his long life that was able to outsmart him._

 _"Quite impressive my friend. Very_ _clever." Kane said with a little bit of respect in his eyes as they took the corpse away."_

"This man that was able to give GDI the information to start building the TCN as Special Agent Charles Masters."

The UNSC personnel then looked to Commander Masters as he nodded towards them. "Yes, he is my ancestor and the one of the few that gained Kane's begrudging respect as he was able to outsmart him. It wasn't easy, but he had quite the amount of luck behind him as he was able to get some of Nod's other high ranking officers to get him close enough to the Tacitus and got some clues about what Kane's final plan was. While he wasn't able to tell us about the latter, all of GDI was grateful that he was able to bring in the blueprints in and after several tests, we were able to create the correct nodes in order to control the Tiberium spread. It was his luck in fact that I thank every day as it helped me get through battles that would have killed me."

He then brings out an old lighter that had a bullet that was dug into it. "This lighter was something a friend gave me to hold to as we were visiting London while I was on leave from boot camp where a terrorist attack was carried out by factions that would be tied to the rise of the Neo Brotherhood. Several gunmen had entered the building and were killing civilians left and right as the guards and their combat robots were fighting them off. I had grabbed a Raptor II Assault Rifle off of a wounded guard that I pulled to safety as I helped in fighting them in fighting the terrorists off. During the firefight, I was hit by a bullet in the left breast pocket of my shirt which was where I put the lighter. I was knocked down on my back and thought I was hit as I looked down to where I thought I was hit. I didn't feel any blood on me or burning pain as I took out the lighter and saw the bullet rammed into it. I was glad I wasn't hit and tried to get back up, but by the time I was able to reorient myself, police and SWAT teams arrived and finished them off. When I showed my parents this, my father said that I had some of the luck my ancestor had in getting one up on Kane."

"Well, not the level of luck the Chief has but still pretty impressive there Commander." Cortana said with a smirk as she tried to keep herself from going Rampant.

"Thanks Cortana, I'm guessing that Chief had unbelievable luck, to the point of supernatural?" Cole said with a smirk.

"Pretty much." Both Cortana and Miranda said at the same time with smiles on their faces.

"Well, either way following Agent Masters sacrifice, GDI began to set up nodes to control the Tiberium spread. However, Nod unleashed attack after attack on the nodes we made during what became known as the Incursion War, known for being the first conflict that both sides began to use Crawlers, special vehicles that act as mobile bases that can make a beachhead for an invasion force until a Mobile Command Vehicle or MCV that allows for the construction of main bases from where we are able to launch our operations." Raven said as images of the war were shown along with all of GDI and Nod's infantry using power armor to fight each other.

"Incredible, I know you must have been despite but how were you able to equip all of your soldiers who were infantry with power armor?" Lasky said.

"Yes, I know it would be an incredibly expensive venture however we needed them in order to keep infantry out since they're a vital component to any battle and not leave our vehicles vulnerable." Cole said. "Plus some of the Zone trooper variants we came up with had weaponry we can give to our current generation of Zone Troopers and Zone Commandos to deal with different enemies depending on the mission they're facing. Plus at this time, GDI and Nod began to look into using Blue Tiberium cores which would be used on mass during TW4 as it would improve the firepower and performance of our vehicles." Wes then brought up images of TW4 era vehicles using Blue Tiberium cores to upgrade themselves and due more damage on the battlefield.

Then the GDI personnel went into the Fourth Tiberium War, otherwise known as the Ascension Conflict. With Kane's main bargaining chip gone, he was determined to finally achieve his ultimate goal by any means necessary. So he had chosen to finally end the main conflict as he would allow GDI to have the Tacitus and gain all of the knowledge it would possess and in return, he and Nod would leave in peace as he told them that he planned to seek out new knowledge elsewhere. If he wasn't able to ascend, then he would continue the conflict for eternity, constantly trying to destroy GDI and doom the Earth to destruction in never ending conflict.

"So the council chose to accept Kane's demands as they didn't want to continually fight against him continually?" Lasky said. It sounded that Kane was going a little more crazy since he had been outsmarted and he was still able to keep getting more and more people on his side so as long as their were people that were around, he would keep the war going for eternity. It does sound similar to if the Covenant wanting to continue the fight against the UNSC forever along with that

"Now he never said something like that exactly," Raven said. "However it seemed that it could be possible since Kane when he went up to the GDI council, he looked as if he was really pushing for us to accept the offer along with the will to continue the fight as long as he wanted. Especially since Kane could still recruit people due to his skills in manipulation and oratory

Wes then showed images of both Nod and GDI separatists split off them their main organizations as they waned to continue fighting since they wanted to get revenge both sides or there were those that wanted to use those still wanting such as Colonel Louise James during the Fourth Tiberium War who used Commander Henry Parker (who was revealed to be a descendant of Nick Parker, mainly his great-grandson) to lead the forces she had gotten to help bring down Kane. The fighting was intense as GDI power armor soldiers fight against powerful Nod cyborg infantry along with fighting in space between GDI Arcus and Kodiak ships fighting Nod Basilisks and Leviathans in space as GDI GSTs dropped off whole regiments into a combat zone along with various Crawlers.

The fighting would go on with Parker's forces beating Nod forces and GDI loyalists as it then ended at the Scrin Threshold as Kane ascended along with his remaining followers. He would kill Colonel James after she wounded Commander Parker and revealed that the death of his wife Lily Parker in order to get him to join her forces. This was something that Miranda and the rest of the UNSC personnel hated considering that the woman only cared about her own selfish desires and would cause an incredibly short war (they were surprised to hear that the war was only 10 days in length) but destructive with how many battlefields and the cities they fought in being devastated. Kane then said thank you to Commander Parker before leaving the Tacitus behind as he left.

"Commander Parker would recover after several weeks in the hospital and while some in GDI considered punishing him, General Riggs revealed what James did so that let Parker off the hook and put him as a General." Raven said. "The remaining Nod separatists who were still on Earth continued fighting until they killed, captured, or in most cases choose to defect to GDI, which allowed for people on hand to help better understand and integrate Nod's tech into GDI equipment and to better teach GDI soldiers about the type of asymmetric warfare that Nod used which would help us with the Scrin in the First Scrin War."

"Eventually after Kane and his followers had finally left and with Tiberium now no longer a threat, people around the world rejoiced that peace had finally come." Cole said with his arms crossed over his chest. "Our 78 year long war with Nod was finally over and after 82 years, we stopped Tiberium from destroying our home planet. Certain areas of the planet if you saw it from space were green due to them being where the control nodes were and thus the remaining crystals, but the planet was slowly starting to recover. We eventually began to use the absence of Nod to take all of their technology along with any captured Scrin tech and find ways to integrate it into our forces. Stealth systems that allowed Nod soldiers, tanks and their cyborg commandos the ability to get the drop on our boys was reverse-engineered for our use. Scrin energy shields and their wormhole technology were taken and as the former was given to our growing space Navy and some of our larger vehicles and soldier down the line, the latter became our method of FTL. It took decades of work and study to finally get the science and machinery down, but at last we were starting to move light-years away from Earth to colonize new planets and asteroids for us to use Tiberium on to gather new resources."

Images of GSTs becoming the first colony ships for GDI to send out to habitable planets in the vast void of space brought nods all around from the UNSC, it had taken them until Tobias Shaw and Wallace Fujikawa in 2291 with their creation of the Slipspace drive of their name to start sending people off into the unknown towards planets that they had discovered were habitable. To see that GDI had been able to find a way to take an invention of the alien race that had nearly destroyed their home planet and managed to use it for both military and civilian use was impressive for them to see.

"I'm guessing following the end of the threat of Nod and Tiberium that GDI began to be less heavy-handed in terms of governmental power?" Miranda questioned.

"Well we did slowly, we still needed to remain strong following the Ascension Conflict so we slowly began to give the Nations of Earth their identity's back. We even allowed for their more famous units to retain their original marks and patches when they were absorbed into GDI as to keep a spirit of home and country with them. While the amount of monitoring was less at this point, it was still there as we had to deal with terrorist organizations that were popping up during the late 2000's and into the early 2100's." Raven spoke up.

"One in particular was known as the Marauder Rebellion were the Mercenary groups who had been neutral or sided with Nod, due to the new peace, became restless and chose to begin attacking nearby areas, mainly in the Balkans and South America where Nod was at its strongest during the Tiberium Wars. We had at this point begun to have Tiberium Mutants into the Commando Program who had proven themselves in the smaller scale conflicts there were popping up before the Rebellion proved to be decisive in dealing their follow mutants. Due to our advances in power armor and creating prototypes that could enhance their powers, the Marauders began to lose ground, along with GDI using our new found knowledge on Nod's weaponry that the Marauders were using to find better ways to take them down. The fighting continued for a few months until March 2095 where the remaining leaders finally agreed to end the fighting after the Battle of Belgrade where 3,500 of them, the majority of their forces in the Balkans were decimated by GDI forces."

"I guess it would make sense, without Nod to act as a unifying force for the multiple extremist groups in the world they would start to go on their own for their own agendas." Miranda said, remembering how during the battles with the Insurrection when major groups that were a coalition of smaller cells and factions fell apart after the destruction of the group's leaders would cause the member groups to go their own ways and start their own attacks and actions. It hearkened back to the idea of "Cut off the head of the snake, and the rest will follow".

"Indeed, we wouldn't get a major conflict until the First Scrin War in mid 2098, which lasted for two years and the seizure of 12 Scrin worlds located near our neck of the galaxy, with their forces several years away from the Arcturus system which we had begun to colonize. Our weaponry that we had developed in the Ascension Conflict had proved to be effective in battle was the enemy forces we had fought in battle during the Third Tiberium War with some improvements so we knew fully what kind of weaknesses they had." Raven said as images of the First Scrin War was shown as GDI pushed the Scrin off several worlds as vehicles such as an upgraded Mammoth Mk IV and Mastodons armed with massive sonic cannons being able to take out the improved Tripods.

"It was also the first time that we had engaged the Scrin in space, our first true test of combat in that field." Wes then showed images of GDI Kodiak battlecruisers, Arcus warships, Archangel Mk Is flying alongside and using their repair beams to fix up ships in the midst of battle, and specially made GST transports turned into carriers for warplanes to be used such as the Mk IV Firehawk. "We had been undergoing War games to test out tactics that would work the best on the Scrin ships we knew about and training our forces on how to fight in three dimensions. They came in handy when we started to fight the Scrin, but their ships were able to deal several serious losses to us i the beginning as their weaponry was stronger then we had expected since they had been deploying new ships we didn't see before."

Wes then showed images of what GDI would end up calling Drone Ships, Scrin Battleships, and their Hive ships. "These ships had powerful Tiberium cannons that were able to punch through our ships armor and their point defense cannons were able to give our pilots serious casualties. We did manage to find counters to their ships though and after improving our ships with more powerful weaponry we started to turn the tide of the war." Raven spoke.

He then went on to talk about GDI's expansion programs for the Navy and Army, new combat ships and upgrades to their vehicles along with returning the infantry to normal foot soldiers as new body armor was given to them that could deal with both Tiberium and take some of the power of the Scrin's weapons before giving out. He then went on to describe the Second and Third Scrin Wars, showing off how much GDI was learning from the constant battles against the alien menace as their ships got larger and more heavily armed as improved Ion Cannons and their Firestorm weaponry was proving enough to blast their way through Scrin energy shields and armor. They showed off the accomplishments of men like Calvin Abrams, an aggressive armor commander that would make an impact in the Fourth Scrin War during major battles against Scrin armored forces on planets like New London and Elysium, and Karl Fairborne who proved to be a deadly sniper in battle against the Scrin. Of course, the Scrin were bringing in more powerful units in the Third Scrin War, which would prove to be the mainstay force in the more deadly Fourth War against GDI.

At the same time, they also saw how far GDI was advancing, with the every period in between the wars being baby booms that increased the population of GDI by millions and even billions and taking more and more planets. "By the mid 22nd Century, our reach had gotten to over 500 worlds due to the need for rapid colonization to find more worlds for not only resources and living space, but also for them to be refugee worlds in case the Scrin had begun to push us back during their offensives." Raven said more images popped up. "However, during the course of the wars, it was more and more apparent that the Scrin would end up coming in larger numbers since at this point we had taken dozens of worlds from them at a rate they never would have expected from a seemingly lesser race. The past few wars were largely against their local forces, mainly in that the local region's Hive King was determined to destroy GDI himself."

"Therefore, the Director General at the time William Conrad had passed the Planetary Militia Act of 2145, creating the GDI Planetary Militia as another part of the overall military force. They would be the first line of defense to hold down planets and act as a additional force to support the Regular Army and Marines Corps forces planetside so the Scrin would end up dealing with more forces slowing down or in most cases in the Fourth through Sixth Scrin Wars stopping them dead after long enough. Until recently, Militia soldiers didn't get any of the features used in the armor of Army and Marine troopers due to the need to GDI's constant military expansion programs. But now, Militia soldiers have access to the same weapons normal soldiers have along with special shield generator on their person."

"You basically created a massive new segment of the military in order to slow the Scrin's advance?" Lasky questioned. "Wouldn't having a large amount of a planet's people know how to fire weapons and operate vehicles that isn't under the watch of the Regular Military?"

"True you have a point Commander Lasky," Raven said to the young UNSC officer. "However, the Militia undergo several strict loyalty tests along with having undercover InOps agents along with GDI Commandos helping to keep infiltrators out of the Militia. The Militia have proven to be effective to slowing down both Scrin and Neo Nod forces on several planets along with using asymmetric warfare that can continue to fight against any force that takes the planet they are on. Plus it also helps to increase the overall size of our military strength during Wartime." They then show GDI Militia units, wearing more traditional soldier gear (think Militia armor from Titanfall) fighting against both regular military forces and even helping GDI police in more serious gunfights and terrorist attacks and even helping Riot Police out in keeping protests contained. They could also see the various unique weapons they used in combat, especially unique energy weapons along with some of the standard GDI weapons like the GD-16 Assault Rifle. This included weapons that resembled 20th and 21st century weapons but were far more advanced looking along with a good majority being energy weapons (Think some of the weapons from Call of Duty Infinite Warfare like the NV4 assault rifle, the Spartan SA3 Anti-Air missile launcher, DCM-8 energy shotgun, and the Ballista M3 energy AMR).

"They would prove their worth during the Fourth Scrin War, the biggest conflict we had at time with those damn aliens as they came down on us with a massive force." Cole said. "We were starting to make newer weapons for our forces that would prove effective against them that we would use up to today. In fact, some of the energy weapons your seeing the Militia use are in fact used by the regulars as well, which proved to be able to punch through the armor of Scrin infantry after enough bursts." They showed images of much larger battles with new Scrin walkers (think a quad legged version of the Annihilator Tripod with the appearance of a Ravager with 4 four of the energy cannons that the tripods uses) firing powerful Tiberium energy cannons called the Devastators that almost reminded the UNSC of the Covenant Scarab Walkers along with versions of the powerful Eradicator Hexapod with eight legs and more powerful weaponry along with 6 of the Tripod's energy cannons and more infantry emplacements called the Apocalyptic Octopods. GDI's best units at the time were having difficulty in dealing with these new walkers but eventually they would find out tactics that could counter them and would be the first use Ion Cannon armed Mammoth tanks with upgraded Mk IVs using one of them which would due heavy damage against these new weapons of war."

Miranda couldn't help but wonder about how the UNSC during the Human-Covenant War would fair against the Scrin in these battles since they used energy shields on most of their vehicles at this point in time. It would have been serious trouble for even the Spartans to take down the powerful walkers due to the number of weapon emplacements on the giant machines along with just the large amount of Scrin infantry around them. It made her wonder what would also happen if the Covenant fought against them in battle on the ground, wondering if walkers like the Scarab could fight them on the battlefield.

The UNSC then saw GDI ships, which were getting to be in kilometers with quite a number of weapon emplacements on them engaging the larger Scrin ships along with having improved energy shields which were able to take more weapon fire then before. The Ion Cannon satellites being used by GDI also got bigger along with a few CIWS defending it form Scrin fighter attacks and had many times more power behind its beams which could take out the larger Scrin battleships with a blast that could overwhelm the shields and due large damage to the ships themselves. They also saw the upgraded Firehawks and Paladin aircraft managing to dogfight Scrin drone fighters while despite the sheer number of drones, they were able to fight them effectively especially when working closely with their ships. However, the large amount of causalities still suffered by GDI with about 6 billion soldiers lost as they pushed into Scrin territory, taking dozens of enemy planets in the process along with the deployment of powerful anti-matter bombs and nuclear weapons that were able to take out hordes or fleets of Scrin forces which began the domino effect that would eventually led to the weakening of the Scrin Empire.

"Eventually following the end of the conflict, GDI was pushing for the deployment of better weaponry and equipment for our forces as we needed to counter them better in combat." Raven said, "Not only that, but it would push for higher spending in order to help give our soldiers better armor. The result of this was the deployment of the Mk V Mammoth Tank, the deployment of true laser weapons, and the deployment of more AA units to shoot down dozens to hundreds of Scrin fighter drones along with new tactics to counter the larger number of Scrin units. While the number of losses for GDI was still intense in the billions due to the Scrin developing not only improved version of their units, but also deploying a new line of units that are more humanoid, which allowed them to approach combat in new ways that caught GDI off guard during the war. Along with the new weapons come more powerful ships such as the Odin-Class Battleships were able to match up with the Scrin more powerful battleships and a group of them could kill a massive Scrin Hive ship."

Wes then showed images of the next war with the Scrin as the newer weapons and vehicles were able to better deal with Scrin units during the various battles in both GDI and Scrin held systems. Some battles were shown such as Alpha Centauri which showed the armor and power of the Odin-Class which impressed the UNSC in seeing just show far GDI had come in terms of combat ships.

"Seems like both your people and the Scrin were now in a race to see who could destroy the other more quickly since it seems." Miranda commented.

"Indeed, the Fifth Scrin War showed that the lessons we had learned from the previous conflicts along with the new weapons were able to force the Scrin into a corner. This time we had taken out dozens of their planets and their Hive Queens and Kings, crippling their forces. Soon enough, the being we know as the Scrin Overlord was realizing just how much destructive power we had as more and more of his best officers were killed during the conflict. During this time as well, we had begun to colonize new planets from former Scrin-occupied systems as more and more humans were being born each year, increasing the population to where we would end up replacing the losses we've suffered, which during the Fifth War was 6 billion." Raven said. "We also began to improve the rate of production for our weaponry through the use of upgraded nano-forges." Wes even showed the UNSC the speed where GDI was making its vehicles and weapons at rates that surprised them with how quickly they were being made.

"However, the biggest achievement for us during the Fourth Scrin War was the creation of the Centurion Program. During the middle years of the war where the Scrin were still on the offense and pushing us back across our own planets, we had begun to see that that even with the larger number of Commandos who were coming out of boot camp along with the advancement of augmentations as there were tests with regular Commandos to improve their abilities in combat as time went on along with improvements to the ICS or Integrated Combat Suit that was first made prior to the Scrin Incursion in 2058. Therefore, seeing as how even with the newer Mk 2 ICS being used by Commandos at the time, it was decided to augment the best Commandos at the time in order to produce a new class of super soldier, one that could become literal one armies that were able to take down both insectoid and humanoid units of the Scrin ground soldiers along with being skilled in multiple areas in order to adapt to any situation."

Wes then brought up the images of a man in his 50s with a lab coat with hazel colored eyes and blonde hair, with a rather sharp sense about him. "This is Professor Lucian Collins, being one of the foremost experts in human biology, medical research, and had overseen experiments with augmentations with various animals and humans. He was chosen to help administer the serums that would cause the augmentations that would birth the first true supersoldiers of GDI. He had them undergo a number of tests in order to make sure that not only would they be able to handle the augmentations but would be able be adapted to take newer and stronger augments in order to get used to their improved capabilities."

"The first batch had 40 of the best Commandos at the time which were selected by the High Command who had recommended them based on both performance, loyalty, and having the DNA structure that would be compatible with the augmentations to undergo the procedures. Some of them were crippled and a few were put into comas, but around 25 were made into the First Generation of Centurions. They had increased reaction time, enhanced strength, speed, reflexes, and senses, and stringer bone and muscle fibers. They would use modified Mk 2 ICS that would better match up with their enhancements which allowed them to fight off several more enemies then even the best Regular Commandos were able to accomplish."

Wes then bought up images of the Gen 1 Centurions fighting against Scrin units across several planets as the enhancements were able to allow them to better trade physical blows with the humanoid Scrin, including the up-armored Archon units, especially in the case of the more powerful version of the ICS used by the Zone Commandos. They also showed off a couple of the ICS's improvements since they have access to a full on jetpack for maneuverability in the air and with a slot for an AI chip for improving the Centurion's performance.

"Why do you call them Centurions?" Chief asked. The name of a program or project always had a deep meaning behind it such as the case with the Spartan Program. They were trained from a young age (at least in the case of the IIs and IIIs) to be the best soldiers that Humanity could call upon for war. This was much like how the Spartans of Ancient Greece trained those that had no physical flaws to be killing machines that would stand their ground and fight against whoever their enemy was. These were the same Spartans that had famously held the line for three days alongside their Greek allies at the Battle of the Thermopylae Pass against the powerful armies of the Persian Empire. While the 300 Spartans that were led by King Leonidas while killed once the remaining Greek Allied forces were outflanked and surrounded, they had left an impact that has reverberated throughout time, especially in inspiring Spartan Program.

This time, Havoc stood up and answered the question. "It was called the Centurion Program since it was the goal to make a Centurion be the equal of 100 Commandos in terms of effectiveness on the battlefield. Also, much like the Centurions of Ancient Rome, they were drawn from the best to become better soldiers and even leaders of units when needed due to their skills in many areas."

Chief nodded at the explanation, Centurions the Roman Legions were chosen based on experience in battle and on campaign, along with expertise in areas such as combat skill and their physical abilities. He could understand that they would be chosen from the best of their groups to undergo the process and would become even more effective in battle then if they remained regular humans.

"The Centurions proved themselves effectively in battle," Raven said, "however some in GDI HIGHCOM wanted to further expand the force since the number of Centurions in service was so small due to the augmentations causing a good number of applicants to be crippled until several surgeries and even the placement of newer cybernetic components until they were put onto the active force and were able to be deployed. So Dr. Lucius and one of his assistants Dr. Haori Sakura were able to make a new set of augments that were more compatible with those that didn't posses the genetics that were able to handle the then current Centurion augmentations. They had chosen 50 Commandos that weren't able to make it into the Centurion Program and administered the augments that both doctors had designed. Unlike the Centurion augments, the Legionary augments were safer and nearly all of the applicants were able to serve in combat in the latter half of the Fifth War."

"They proved successful and with improvements in both the safety and strength of the augments for them, more joined the Centurion Program from the both the regular and even Legionary Commandos. Of course, in keeping with the Roman influence with both programs, those that stood out the most among the Legionaries were given the rank of Primus Legionaries, much like how the best of Ancient Rome's Legions were put into the Primus or First Cohort of a standard Legion."

Raven had chosen to leave out a few critical details since during the war, InOps had taken a few hundred war orphans that were ranged from teenagers to kids as young as 10 and put them into the program in order to further increase their numbers. Of course, this meant that the Commandos and the trainers they worked with needed to keep them from falling into their anger and assisted in maintaining their minds and keeping such tendencies to as much of a minimum as possible.

"However, a few years later in 2210, InOps were getting reports on the rise of several rebel factions in the outer colonies in that they were becoming more bold in their attacks and were striking with more frequency. Investigations into the attacks were troubling in that they were starting to use laser weapons and vehicles that reminded them of the ones that Nod used during the Tiberium Wars." Raven said. "By this point, GDI HIGHCOM were concerned in that another Nod was beginning to rise from the shadows into the light. The idea that there was someone that wanted to bring back such a group was insane since many people believed that no one would have been able to bring them back."

"However, in June of that year in the Altair system, one of the systems away from the GDI-Scrin border, a large scale uprising erupted as several large scale attacks occurred during a military parade that celebrated the defeat of the Original Brotherhood of Nod. The attacks began to occur throughout the system and nearby systems as newer models of older Nod vehicles along with newer unseen ones that were able to strike after crippling GDI C&C in the regions due to their extensive infiltration." Wes then brought up images of the GDI HQ on Altair III's GDI Military HQ with a modified Nod Symbol with the three sharp curves bring even longer. "IN the end, transmissions came out saying that the various rebel groups came together and proclaimed themselves as the Neo Brotherhood of Nod, wanting to continue the war that the Messiah had chosen to end prematurely."

"The Neo Brotherhood as we would later find out was being lead by one Andrei Slavik, the descendant of Anton Slavik, the man who Kane had wanted as his successor." Wes then brought up an image of the man, a brown haired, brown eyed man in his mid 30s with several scars on his face. "Andrei had been getting the rebel groups into an organized force that would be able to take down GDI. He was originally part of the Altair Liberation Army or ALA, and was one of the most dangerous individuals that was fighting GDI. He was able to outsmart several local Militia Commanders and a few Regular officers due to his extensive use of Asymmetric Warfare and knowledge on hitting weakspots in both GDI fortifications and formations. He had managed to win several battles in the nearby systems along with getting several more planets outside of GDI space and built their own little force with around 100 planets at their height with them leeching off of them for resources and planting Tiberium to use for their own war machine."

"We were surprised to see the improved versions of Nod's old weaponry along with nearly of their infantry using high power, rapid fire laser weaponry." Raven said as images of the Neo Brotherhood soldiers appear with them using gunmetal gray armor that was sleeker and had the same three pointed visor was TW2-era Nod troopers (think TIBERIUM Nod armor with the visor of Tiberium Sun Nod soldiers) using advanced looking laser weapons (think the A.L.A.R or Automatic Laser Assault Rifle from Command and Conquer Initiation Mod for C&C Generals: Zero Hour without the crystal on top, a sleeker version of the Nod Laser Sniper Rifle from TIBERIUM, and a four barrel version of the Laser Chain Gun from Renegade X to name a few) along with a different version of the Avatar (Think the Avatar mk III from the C&C: The Vortex Mod but with four arms much like the TW4 era Avatar) and a biped walker called the Hellhound (Think the Avatar mech from Tiberium Apocalypse) to name a few of the newer vehicles.

"Not only that, but they were also able to make new ships for their own Navy which used advanced stealth tech and powerful main laser cannons along with their own Tiberium energy cannons and particle cannons which were designed to punch through enemy ships along with multiple Obelisks acting as anti-air weapons along with being able to deal damage to ships with different frequencies able to increase their energy output." Wes then brought up images of sleek black ships with some looking like the subterranean vehicles with the front having a massive laser cannon that could take out enemy ships as large red beams cut into GDI ships whose shields and armor took the damage that they were capable of doing for only a few shots depending on the size of the ships in question.

"It was the start of a grueling war against the Neo Brotherhood, but it would lead into the development of newer weapons and tactics that would ultimately lead into events with the Sixth Scrin War, the shortest, but also the most the destructive and deadliest war there was against them. They used some improved versions of their technology from the Original Nod that Slavik and his people had been testing under the noses of InOps since with the disappearance of Kane we had been more lax in keeping an eye on our people." Raven said with a frown. "We honestly had gotten too soft and should have dug into how the rebels we getting such weapons into service, but our priorities were mainly on dealing with any new Scrin excursions into our space since they were our main enemy."

Images of various battles with Neo Nod were shown as GDI's newest weapons and vehicles clashed with the revived terrorist organization's arsenal, with dozens of worlds being their battle ground as both sides sued both conventional and unconventional tactics. Battles such as the Altair Campaign and the Battle of New London where worlds where they had a strong presence prior were pushed out following Operation Guillotine, where GDI was able to devastate their First Fleet via the use of an experiential anti-matter bomb that was able to reach gigatons in terms of destructive capability. Of course GDI would in fact be making more anti-matter weapons to deal more damage with less hazard then that of Nuclear weapons, especially when in use on planets.

"One battle that led to an improvement in our aerial forces and was key to beating Neo Nod out of its home in the Altair System was the Strangereal Campaign, where to our surprise, had other humans living on it." Raven said.

"Wait, there were other humans on planets other than Earth?" Miranda questioned.

"That's correct Captain, it was a shock to us as well since we couldn't think their was humans outside of Earth." Raven nodded. "They happened to be in the early 21st Century era technology with some exceptions. They had built large railgun systems that were designed to shoot apart large asteroids that were going to hit their world, a large tower that was able to project a strong energy laser that could easily take out ICBMs, a flying ship that acted as both a missile platform and a Aircraft Carrier, and finally several different plane models that we incorporated into our Air Force and Navy aerial wings and upgraded with our own technology. Some of their weapons even are used by our military including the Burst and anti-ship missiles you saw when we fired them upon the Covenant alongside most of our fighters which your own pilots saw our own use against Covenant fighters." He then smirked as he continued, "Of course, their was one thing from that planet that was able to increase our overall capability in combat."

"What was that Admiral?" Roland questioned.

"Their fighter pilots." Raven said with a smile. "Strangereal had dozens of skilled fighter pilots due to the wars they ended up fighting prior to both Neo Nod and us showing up on their doorstep. Some of their best pilots had kills numbering in the dozens to even hundreds, with their top pilots being called the Aces. They are in fact so skilled in piloting their planes, they were responsible for bringing down several superweapons that were being used by enemy factions to increase the death count and try to reserve their fortunes." Wes then showed images and videos of several Strangereal Aces taking down giant weapons with only their planes and their wingmen, avoiding instance enemy fire and destroying the weaknesses of the giant weapons.

"In fact, we took the best Aces from the planet and formed them into our best fighter squadron, who no doubt did a number on the Covenant forces." Raven said. "If you want to know more about them and their planet, I'll be sure to let you speak with them once things are settled."

The UNSC personnel nodded in agreement. They had seen some of their best pilots manage a few impressive feats during the fight with the Covenant even though the Seraph fighter the Covies used out-preformed their Longswords in most engagements until new tactics had been developed to give their pilots a fighting chance in battle. It wasn't until the creation of the YSS-1000 Sabre fighter in which the UNSC would have a fighter more then capable of fighting Seraphs in an even fight due to the use of energy shields and more powerful weaponry on the Sabre.

"Either way, after a few years of combat we were finally able to push the Neo Brotherhood out of GDI space and forced them to flee across to their own little corner of space, with them planning on bringing back their forces to no doubt continue the fight." Raven said with a frown. "Of course, despite how good Slavik is, he isn't as dangerous as Kane was. So while he was able to get tens of millions of followers, it wasn't at the numbers Kane would have gotten. So eventually, Slavik had no choice but to call for a ceasefire after string of defeats. So while the Neo Brotherhood is still around and planning to take the fight back against us one day, we are planning for their eventual defeat as well since Slavik has been a problem, with the only time they've haven't attacked us was during the Sixth Scrin War as the robo bugs attacked them as well."

"I guess it would make sense with Nod having fought against the Scrin when they first appeared on Earth." Cortana commented.

Raven nodded as he continued. "Then, twelve years ago the Scrin would return with the largest force they've ever assembled and started the Sixth Scrin War. This ended up being the most destructive war we had ever fought against them. They unleashed a massive offensive, taking several systems from us as they had stuck with massive numbers, no doubt determined to take us down for the past humiliations we had inflicted on them. They were merciless in their advance until three years later once we were able to gather our forces to launch a strong enough counterattack to finally slow down and eventually stop them. We had several large scale naval battles along with several sieges and dragged out campaigns in the first four years of the conflict, which had heavy casualties for both sides, especially for the Scrin since they were largely using drones in vast numbers. This is led to sieges such as New Seoul, New Paris, and of course the Siege of Arcadia."

The UNSC personnel then saw a shudder from Commander Masters, something that gave away that this battle in particular was something important to him and was ingrained in his mind. They had seen soldiers have a similar reaction to those that survived large scale battles that were bloody and led towards PTSD or Vietnam Flashbacks that stick with the soldier until they either come to terms with what happened or they are able to better control themselves when looking back on it.

"After those battles, along with the introduction of newer equipment along with a certain addition to our forces, we were finally able to take the fight back towards Scrin territory once again, and began a search and destroy mission to fully decimate the Scrin's military might. They had several Thresholds that operated as special factories that could produce drone soldiers by the thousands along with hidden hives that had been in waiting to spring an attack on multiple fronts in order to weaken our defenses at the border. We ended up taking even more planets from them, both with a large amount of Tiberium that gave our economy a shot in the arm after the war was over along with new planets that could be colonized for our population. However, even with our eventual victory and seizure of several of their unique technologies that we have brought into our forces for use, we had suffered the biggest loss of life that GDI had ever come across, with 10 billion killed over the course of it, adding up with the losses from the Fourth and Fifth Scrin Wars to around 20 billion."

"Things quieted down for a few years until we found out about the wormhole which just so happened to be around the time where the _Olympus_ had finished construction and was ready to take off on her maiden voyage. Thus our Battlegroup had been assembled and we went through to see if their were other races beyond it, and I'm sure you know the rest." Raven finished, taking a deep breath after all of the talking that he had done.

Miranda, Lasky, Roland, and Cortana were surprised to hear just how deadly the last three wars these newcomers had as a result of fighting the race that had nearly turned their version of Earth into a lifeless green husk of itself. The Scrin seemed far more more numerous then the Covenant were during the war and even seemed more advanced, especially as time had gone on. Them, along with the Neo Brotherhood almost reminded them of their own situation with the Covenant Remnant and the Insurrection, but arguably on a larger scale. Not only that, but they had technology to where it would have UNSC scientists having several years of trying to see how their tech works.

"Well then, I believe its time to hear your story Captain Keyes." Raven said, a little tried after telling them all of GDI's history that he could say to them.

"Very well then, I guess we can start from the end of our WW2." Miranda said with a smile as she turned to Roland and Cortana and nodded. The two returned the gesture as they started to bring up the history of the UNSC.

Miranda, along with Lasky, Palmer, Chief, and the other Spartans told GDI about the first forays into space, the fighting against the both the Neo-Communist and Neo-Facist forces during the events of the Interplanetary War, with the beginning of the USNC Marine Corps using Blitzkrieg tactics in order to win the conflict. They covered the destruction caused during the Rainforest wars in which caused large scale destruction on Earth, especially with the devastation of the Amazon rainforest. They also saw the beginning of future units like the ODSTs such as the Drop Jet platoons which were specialized Marines that were deployed behind enemy lines.

They also saw the later creation of the UEG as the main government along with the formation of the UNSCDF as the military arm of the united humanity. Another event that caught their attention was the creation of humanity's first ever Slipspace Drive due to the work of Dr. Tobias Shaw and Dr. Wallace Fujikawa which allowed humanity to finally achieve FTL speed while negating the obvious problem of trying to get ships to move past the light speed limit without dealing with issues such as time dilation and distorting space-time. It was similar to their own Portal Drives, but their own FTL was made to go even further and was able successfully use pinpoint jumps unlike the UNSC's FTL.

They saw the beginnings of the Insurrection in the early 26th Century after the UEG was able to have over 800 planets under its control which caused a couple of whistles from Cole and Havoc about the size that their government was able to reach. GDI was also shown the appearance of the Orion troopers or Spartan Is which made them about as capable as their Regular Commandos or even above them by a marginal amount (they would need to see one of them in full on action in order to really compare the two). and the lessons learned that would lead to the creation of the Orbital Drop Shock Troopers or ODSTs.

"Those drop pods of theirs seem like death traps, yet they went in them anyway?" Cole questioned. "Either they have serious backbone and aren't afraid to die, or they're just crazy."

Miranda then smirked at the young GDI commander. "That's why they're also known as Helljumpers Commander. They live and die by the motto of "Feet first into Hell."

"Sounds like you have some people that are on the level of our own Special Forces then." Cole said with a smirk. He had to admit he liked the attitude of these ODSTs, no doubt coming close to GDI's Commandos in the missions are to undertake to turn the tide of a battle or start a domino effect to win a war. However, while the Helljumpers were skilled, he still saw the Commandos being more effective due to the type of training they had that would cause fatalities even with modern medicine helping to keep the deaths low.

They then saw the first images of the Spartan IIs in action against Insurrectionist forces, with images of Chief and other IIs taking down several key leaders in the rebel forces, including one Robert Ross.

What did shock the GDI personnel was the videos of the battles of the Human-Covenant War. They saw the brave men and women of the UNSC fight to the death against forces that wanted their kind extinct. On the ground they could see the UNSC fighting the advanced aliens on a more even foot as their vehicles and soldiers were able to to surprise and even beat the Covenant's vehicles. They raised eyebrow on the Covenant walkers as they reminded them of the ones the Scrin used but were only quad-legged ones. They were taken back however in how effective they were at dealing with whole groups of UNSC Scorpion tanks and even taking on their Grizzly tanks with their weaponry able to punch through their armor. They were proud however, at seeing even these formidable war machines being brought down by concentrated firepower on their leg joints and even the Spartans being able to fight their way through them.

However, what truly surprised them was how badly the UNSC had it in space combat. They could see some of the ships that had shown up with the _Infinity's_ battlegroup in their original models getting torn apart by the Plasma weaponry of the Covenant, with only a few ships such as the Marathon-Class Cruisers surviving with heavy damage on them. They saw how even with a 3 to even 10 to 1 advantage that the UNSC was still taking horrendous losses.

 _'I guess we had it better since we started looking into developing energy shields based on what we took from the Scrin.'_ Raven thought.

They saw the various battles that the UNSC had fought in, from Harvest to their Arcadia, to Sigma Octantis IV, to finally Reach and Earth. Raven was impressed with Admiral Preston Cole's actions and how he was able to pull off victories which while costly, was able to slow the Covenant advance for nearly 30 years,managing to deal damage to the more advanced enemy force with the forces he was given. Cole continued fighting until his last stand at Psi Serpentis, in which he was able to destroy hundreds of Covenant ships via the earlier battle along with the ones that were destroyed when Cole had fired all of his Nuclear missiles into the nearby star which caused it to go supernova.

Then they saw the massive fighting on Reach, the main base of the UNSC. They saw numerous Spartan IIs and IIIs along with UNSC Marine, Army, and ODSTs fighting all across the planet as three waves of Covenant ships came and landed troops in order to finally take it and glass the planet. The 40 ODPs assisted the UNSC fleet in holding back the Covenant forces as Spartans teams like Noble Team under went missions to both remove important UNSC assets as part of the Cole Protocol which was to destroy any data on UNSC ships and weapons along with wiping any navigational data for key UNSC planets in order to keep the Covenant from finding any of their planets, especially important ones such as Reach and Earth.

"Hold on, if Reach was that important and the main line of defense for Earth, why weren't more assets sent in order to better block or even stop the Covenant's assault? Hell, couldn't the civilian population have gotten more advanced warning in order to keep their losses low?" Cole questioned.

"Both of those weren't possible as UNSC HIGHCOM focused assets into a secret mission that if it would have succeed. we believed that would be able to bring the Human-Covenant War. We had assembled up all of the Spartan IIs for a daring assault on the Covenant's capital, known as High Charity. The majority of UNSC ships that were at Reach would also be part of the assault so the Spartans could get through whatever defenses they had around the place." Miranda said. "The plan was to capture one of their leaders, known as the Prophets, and ransom him in order to lead towards a truce between the UNSC and the Covenant."

"Let me guess, even the loss of one of their leaders wouldn't make them pause and accept such a deal?" Raven said.

"Pretty much, they were determined to destroy us regardless of what we could have done and in fact capturing one of the Prophets would have caused them to attack with even great ferocity." Miranda said with a frown.

The UNSC then showed off the Halo ring the UNSC _Pillar of Autumn_ had landed on _,_ which stunned the GDI personnel when they had heard of the constructs size. The UNSC told them a little about the Halo, but didn't go into detail with the Forerunners just yet. GDI then saw the UNSC fight the Covenant on the Halo rings, the first appearance of the Flood which took them by surprise in how dangerous the organism was in how it could go from acting much like zombies at first, to then going to a highly organized force lead by the organism known as a Gravemind as it evolved from a Proto Gravemind.

They then saw the fighting on Earth as Chief was fighting alongside Sargent Johnson (who Centurions easily saw as someone the the Original Havoc would have gotten along with) in New Mombasa, which then led to the fighting on High Charity with the Sangheili lead by the current Arbiter Thel' Vadum in a civil war with his supporters among the Sangheili going against the beings known as the Brutes which had risen to prominent status by the Prophets.

They saw the Flood take over the large station as the fighting would soon move to the Ark, with both the UNSC and Sangheili Separatists now fighting against the Brutes and those still fighting for the Covenant along with any Flood forms that had grown up on the planet. They then saw the death of the Prophet Truth after killing Miranda (which GDI would have to ask how she come back later), the death of Johnson to what an advanced AI known as 343 Guilty Spark before Chief took the rouge AI down and eventually stopped the Flood before fleeing form the Ark on the _Forward Unto Dawn_ and was MIA with Cortana until GDI showed up.

"That's.. certainly one hell of a story Captain Keyes." Raven said after seeing all of the events that had happened for the UNSC and humanity in this dimension. All of GDI was definitely impressed, taken aback, and more curious as there were some topics that had been skimmed over by the UNSC, such as the Flood since they only had talked about what they were and the ways it was a dangerous organism. Not only that, but they hadn't been told much about ones that had constructed the Halo rings along with the place they called the Ark.

None the less, they were now well aware of the standing of the UNSC in this different universe and the hardships they had gone through.

"Well Admiral, there is one other topic we haven't gone over yet along with several more about the Flood since they relate to an ancient race that exists here in our version of the Milky Way." Miranda said. Before Raven could ask though, Roland interrupted him.

"Captain! Multiple Slipspace ruptures near the planet!" Roland spoke up after detecting the Cherenkov Radiation caused by Slipspace jumps. Four Slipspace ruptures appeared with a CAS Assault Carrier with a CCS Battlecruiser and two Covenant Light Destroyers which emerged from the portals. They may have been a scout force to check to see where the Storm Armada was as the retreating Covenant ships from were no doubt disorganized and not focusing on getting back to their own space with the battle not being too long ago. Or its possible that they haven't gotten word back yet about the fate of their leader and wanted to check to see if the armada was still there and join as reinforcements.

"IFF confirms that the ships are Storm ships." Roland said with a frown.

"Well then, I guess we can just use this for a little bit of target practice, since they won't be much of a threat." Miranda said as she turned to Roland. "Order the _Infinity_ to position itself close to the enemy ships and prepare to fire on them once our MAC cannons are-"

She was interrupted when the ship began to ship as both regular and augmented soldiers and officers were trying to hold onto something as others began to fall to the floor hard.

"What the hell was that!?" Miranda said aloud as she was getting back on her feet.

"Ma'am! Our engines have stopped all of a sudden! Engine room is attempting to bring them back on line, but they're just as confused as we are." Roland as said as he pulled up a 3-D image of the ship which the engine section of the _Infinity_ in red with a critical failure labeled above the area.

"Captain, could it be possible that.. the planet is?" Carter began as Miranda finished for him.

"Coming online?"

"Captain Keyes, is their something happening that stopped the _Infinity_?" Raven questioned. He didn't think it was something along the lines of a mechanical failure since the UNSC engineers would keep a close eye on the function of the ship since he could think of it much like the _Olympus_ in that its a new ship with new technologies that needed to keep constant checks and maintenance on it in order to keep it running at its best.

"Admiral Raven!" Wes yelled out. "I'm picking up activity from the metal planet right next to us!"

"What?" Raven questioned as everyone soon felt the ship moving again. However, the engines were still offline from what the holo-display was showing, meaning that something else was moving the ship. It certainly wasn't the gravitational pull of the massive planet since they were outside of it so it couldn't have been that.

"Why is the ship moving if the engines are offline?" Cole questioned as looked around as the Centurions were no doubt concerned about what was happening.

"It's the planet below us Commander Masters, we believe its opening up and sucking us inside of it." Lasky answered for him.

"What!? How the hell is that happening? Are you saying that its coming alive so to speak?" Cole said aloud.

"Pretty much Commander, looks like you'll be experiencing something that we've been for years now." Lasky said as both the _Infinity_ and the the small Covenant group got sent inside the planet. Both the GDI and UNSC fleets while taken back by what is happening in front of them as the five ships in front of the Planet were soon being sucked inside of it. The GDI ships attempted follow long, but with most of them still damaged and trying to be repaired by their Archangel Mk II ships along with them being a further distance away, none of them were close enough to try do something to stop the UNSC flagship form being pulled in.

If they were going to get them out of there, they would need to blast their way into the planet in order to open a route for them to escape.

However, little did anyone on the _Infinity_ realize that can they were dragged into the planet, a single GDI GST followed them in, managing to make inside before the planet closed up. It was the GST GDS _Valor_ , the very one that carried Cole personal combat unit, Task Force Spearhead. The Army Corps size force had been in the toughest fights against the Scrin in the last few years of the Sixth Scrin War and had fought in large scale skirmishes against Neo Nod in the last four years prior to the mission the Battlegroup _Jutland_ was on. Following behind the GST was Razgriz squadron, the five pilots concerned with the safety of both the soldiers in the friendly ship and the GST filled with the soldiers of the organization they served under. They would barely make it into the planet before it closed up, leaving the rest of their forces outside and wondering how to go about getting their main commander and the transport out of the planet.

For the first time for GDI in this new universe, their ground forces would be going into combat against a new enemy. And the UNSC would see just how powerful their allies can be even against an even more advanced enemy forces.

* * *

Codex: Ion Cannons

Bio: An invention of GDI that was first made in the First Tiberium War, Ion Cannons have proven to be the best weapon in their arsenal. Ion Cannons were used to take out large numbers of enemy units, intercept incoming missiles (mainly ICBMs), and to later be deployed against incoming meteors to prevent any impacts to hit the planets. The current generation are able to fire both in single beams that pack the explosive equivalent of over 6 gigatons and can fire a massive Ion pulse that can easily bring down enemy ships and energy shields in a single shot. In the Fourth Tiberium War, GDI was able to create a small enough generator to make the Ion particles which could be used for Zone Captains to use in combat as they were able to disable and destroy Nod Cyborg units. Eventually GDI would be able to develop improved versions of the weapon system in terms of satellite weapons and handheld weapons began to appear later in GDI's history. The Personal Ion Cannon that was originally made in the First Tiberium War was improved and later deployed as the GD-24 PIC for use by GDI infantry to disable and even destroy enemy vehicles with enough hits. GDI has also been focusing on making Ion Pulse weapons as both artillery guns and for infantry weapons allowing for more explosive power from the Ion Pulse round.

* * *

Codex: Chronosphere 

Bio: Considered to be the greatest invention ever made by the brilliant Albert Einstein, the Chronosphere was the key to Allied victory in GWW2. It ability to transport a single unit (mainly vehicle) to anywhere in the battle zone proved to be quite the shock for the Soviets. This would prove to be the weapon that would bring down the Iron Curtain and led to ultimate victory in the war. Following the period prior to the First Tiberium War, the UN realized that the technology was far too important to let fall into the wrong hands, so it was chosen to be kept in a top secret facility in Antarctica that was under heavy guard by a whole Division of soldiers which was increased to three following the first war with Nod. The only ones well aware of the technology from then on were the highest ranking officials in GDI from both the military and civilian. Following the end of the Ascension Conflict, some in GDI chose to not need the technology as their conventional forces were to the point where if they encountered the Scrin again they could be able to fight them off. However, after the End of the Fourth Scrin War with the massive number of casualties given to GDI, it was decided to bring the technology out of storage and expand on it's uses. Larger generators were created that could not only teleport small groups of armored vehicles, but also squads of infantry. This would prove effective against the Scrin when the technology was used in surgical strikes against Scrin commanders via the use of the device when the first Centurion Commandos were deployed. This stunned the Scrin as they had no idea of the technology existing from prior battles with GDI and forced them to leave behind some units that would have been needed at the frontline and would force them to deal with two front battles when they were on the defense, especially when GDI deployed groups of their most powerful vehicles behind their lines. Currently, Chrono technology is now being utilized for as a single Chronosphere generator can be built for GDI forces to be used in any battle where they are needed. They are also being sized down or use by single individuals through the use of what is called the Time belt which being the user back to their position from along with testing a miniature version of the generator being tested for instant teleportation for their best soldiers, including a version for the Mk 5 ICS being developed by Dr. James Masters, the head of G-Labs and the creator of the latest generation of AI.

* * *

Codex: Strangereal Technology Integration Into GDI

Bio: The discovery of the planet of Strangereal was one of the biggest shock that GDI had ever come across in recent memory, due well to the fact a whole planet of humans that weren't from Earth were living on the planet. While their technology level was on par with First Tiberium War Era and early 21st Century weaponry, what surprised GDI was the multitude of unique weapons that the planet possessed. From advanced particle weaponry to powerful missiles that could take out large numbers of aircraft or even enemy ground units, to highly advanced aircraft and munitions that they used. Negotiations between the different representatives from the carious countries of the planet and GDI, they gave GDI access to their most powerful weaponry in return for favorable trade conditions along with aid in repairing the areas and countries that had been struck by the Ulysses disaster in 1995 of the Strangereal calendar. When the war with Neo Nod had arrived on the planet, the various countries such as Osea, Emmeria, Yuktobania, and other key powers had begun to bring some of the superweapons back on the line due to the use of GDI nanotechnology to produce the small scale weapons such as Aurelia's Meson cannons and had upgraded them to engage the heavier aircraft and smaller ships of the Neo Brotherhood. Following the campaign, such weapons from Strangereal such as the Nimbus burst missiles used by Estovakia during their war with Emmeria such have found their way into GDI service as the mainline of anti-ship and burst missiles to take out enemy ships and aircraft respectively. Another happens to be the SWBM or Shock Wave Ballistic Missile that Leasath used against Aureila which used be used as an effective anti-aircraft weapon once GDI ships have been upgraded to carry missile pods with the weapon for to be deployed via SAM missile sites. Various advanced aircraft from the various countries have also been tested and approved by GDI for mass production down the line. Other weapon systems being used by GDI that came from the planet are the massive railgun platforms of Stonehenge and Chandelier There was also been some debate in GDI HIGHCOM about using the flying aerial carriers that have used previously by nations such as Estovakia and Leasath as both escorts in space or for planetary defense with additional weapons in order to engage ships entering the atmosphere and ground and aerial targets. Along with that are plans to improve Leasath's optical camouflage to incorporate into other fighters along with being used by GDI Special Forces.

* * *

 **FINALLY!**

 **Got this stupid thing done after so long! Plus this is the longest chapter I think I've ever dealt with in my life so far!**

 **After having writer's block along with just having life happen, I finally got into planning things out for how this was to go down. Now I know that most of you will be wondering about me just summarizing up the Halo side of things, but let's face it, the Halo side of things are more well known then the C &C storyline. Especially considering that a good part of it was my own creation due to it being an AU with a few changes to the main story along with my own creation of Post-C&C4 events with GDI expanding into space and following wars with the Scrin and the appearance of a revived Brotherhood of Nod.**

 **Now if anyone is curious about the lack of Forerunner information from the UNSC, but they'll spill the beans in the next chapter about both the Flood and the Forerunners. Especially since it will be the start of the fighting with both the Covenant and the Prometheans next time and the UNSC and GDI maybe able to start more united operations in order to free themselves form the planet while their respective fleets will blast their way inside the planet.**

 **Also, due in light of the Militia being formed, I will end up updating my GDI weapons list in leave info there for you all to read along with possible new additions to the GDI arsenal from games like Crysis. I mean there is a few new weapons from those games I want to add in, not only for GDI and but a certain one that both human militaries will be using along with a larger version that will be used as an Assault Rifle.**

 **Trust me, a certain wind will be blowing at the Covies and other enemies soon enough.**

 **As for my other stories, I'm currently a little ways into Remnant of Flames and I have a head start on the next chapter for this story as well. However, with school coming up things will take longer (even though I haven't updated as much as I would have wanted for this summer since I'm preparing for next semester for my collage).**

 **Anyway, next update will probably be for Remnant of Flames since that's the one I also want to have updated as soon as possible so any of that, look forward to having it soon.**

 **This Blazblade, signing off!**


	8. Chapter 7: Requiem

**Okay, now the Requiem saga begins in earnest. Time for both GDI and the UNSC to begin their first joint ground battle with the Covies. Don't worry, the Didact will be showing up soon enough.**

* * *

Chapter 7: Requiem

Cole then woke up inside a trench with his Mk3 ICS on him with a GD-14 MWS in his left hand and his fusion sword on his right hip as he struggled to get up. The sounds of battle around him as he heard artillery booming from far away and close to him along with the sounds of projectile, sonic, and plasma weaponry close to him. Dark green energy shot over his head as he heard explosions and screams from GDI troops hit by the beams from Scrin units that were advancing on their position.

 _'No, not this dream again!'_ Cole thought to himself as he stood up and began to engage enemy Archons that were charging on his position. He was able to fire in quick bursts aimed at their heads as the hypervelocity slugs began punching through their armored bodies and took out their most important functions. He was able to also hit an Archon that was charging up one of its Tiberium cannons which disrupted its charge and caused it to blow up. The damaged Archon was then sniped, as its head was blown up and its main body fell.

Cole then saw a group of Ravagers approaching as their Tiberium shards and their laser blasters firing upon a group of GDI soldiers who were firing back with M5 Gatling guns, Javelin missile launchers, and a couple that were armed with PICs. While a few of soldiers were taken down by the incoming shards with a couple of that group dying after being pierced center mass by the storm of weaponized crystals, the two soldiers armed with the PICs fired their Ion pulses at the lead Ravager which was slowed down and damaged by the first ion pulse as the second one destroyed one of its legs as it fell. Soon several missiles flew and impacted both the downed one and another as the missile swarm brought both of them down as the soldiers took cover form the retaliatory fire of the last one.

Cole quickly switched his GD-14 to its Ion Sniper mode and fired upon one of the leg joints of another Ravager and fired upon it, damaging the limb as he quickly followed up another shot as it brought it down as the PIC armed troopers took it out.

Six Scrin Gunwalkers with two of their strong cannons began to fire upon the defensive line as Cole brought up his Over-the Shoulder MLRS and fired all four of the missiles at a group of Scrin Shock Troopers defending the incoming mobile artillery. It managed to take out all four of them allowing Cole to open fire on another group with his assault rifle mode as the slugs whittled down their armor.

Cole then brought up his tactical map as he tried to get in touch with a nearby group Juggernaut Artillery Walkers that were pounding a nearby force of Shock Troopers. "Thunder Group this is Phoenix! I need an artillery strike on incoming group of Gunwalkers with escorts three clicks away from current position! Sending coordinates for strike!" He then sent the targeting data based on the position on the grid that was set up for GDI artillery crews

 _"Copy that Phoenix, sending strike in ten seconds."_ Thunder Lead responded. Cole then switched to his MLRS as he saw a pair of Scrin drones armed with Tiberium bombs on approach as he aimed down the targeting sights. Once he had gotten a lock, all six missiles flew from his weapon at them and three missiles each impacted and took down the enemy fighter. He saw one of the improved Gunwalkers fire at a nearby pillbox and its powerful guns easily took it out with a big explosion that caused a few nearby GDI troops to fly a distance before landing hard on the ground.

Cole then heard tracks close to him as a Predator Mk V tank rolled up into one of the special ditches dug up so only their turrets could be exposed and given a clear few of the battlefield. The Predator fired its 150mm cannon at one of the Gunwalkers, taking out one of its legs as it LAAGs fired upon a group of charging Archons. The 30mm cannon rounds punching through their armor as it co-ax 50 cal Gatling gun fired on another Archon shredding its to pieces. The tank autoloader kicked in and fired a KE or Kinetic-Explosive round at the front of the damaged Gunwalker which punched clean through its armor and detonated inside of it, destroying it wholesale.

However, two of the Gunwalkers which were firing at nearby friendly positions soon began to turn as the Predator fired another KE round at the side of one of the two. The other one soon fired it twin guns at the tank, its energy shield managing to stop the incoming rounds as it began to drop as it took incoming fire.

Another group of Ravagers numbering up to 20 and four groups of 24 Shock troopers each began to advance alongside the Gunwalkers as they were pounding his current position, nearly destroying the supporting tank. Cole soon fired again with his shoulder mounted MLRS at a pair of Shock Troopers as he fired at another with his GD-14, the former two being taken out with the missiles taking out their front legs and taken out by sniper fire from positions further back. The latter Shock Trooper was being pelted by the hypersonic rounds as its armor eventually wore out and was destroyed.

Thankfully at that moment, up to 15 250mm shells form five of Thunder Group's Juggernaut Mk Vs impacted the large formation of Scrin units. Earth and alien robots were tossed into the air as enemy soldiers were turned into pieces of metal or whole limbs went flying off into different directions. The GDI soldiers around him yelled in joy at the sight of the large cyber bugs getting decimated by the firepower their forces can bring to bear.

"Hey Phoenix!"

Cole then turned behind him to see a platoon of GDI Marines approaching him armed with mainly GD-15s, GD-16s, GDM-21s, Javelin missile launchers, GLS-130 sniper rifles, and a couple of Rorsch AMRs. Six of the soldiers carried GM-4 Mortars (imagine the mortars that are used on the Pitbulls from Tiberium Wars, but have a bipod to place on the ground along with a targeting system on the side) with a few more carrying more rounds.

The leader of the platoon approached the Commando and saluted him. "Lt. Stephen James, 1st platoon of the 63rd Marine Regiment. We were deployed here as per orders to help shore up the defenses along this sector. Our Battalion was been sent here to help slow the Scrin advance."

"Col. Jacobs sent you?" Cole questioned. "So the situation at New Neapolis City is under control now?" Cole was speaking of the fierce urban combat in the city that originally held 15 million civilians had turned into something similar to the urban fighting of battles like Leningrad during Great World War II but was more intense. The Scrin had sent several brigade sized units of the bipedal Scrin units such as the Archons, Infiltrators, Drudges, Shrikes, and regular troopers as they had learned from earlier wars with GDI that these units were better suited for close quarters battle then the main walker based infantry. Three Marine Divisions, an artillery regiment, along with two armored brigades of Rhino MBTs, Slingshot Mk IIIs, , Juggernaut Mk Vs, and an armored battalion of Armata light tanks were holding the line against the large assault force on the city.

"Yes sir, we were able to push them out of city and the reinforcements from the 4th Ranger Regiment and 46th Armor Division helped to reset up any old defense positions along fortifying them with more defense emplacements." The Lieutenant said. "Word is that the northern sector is under serious bombardment from Scrin artillery walkers along with attacks from multiple units

Soon enough the whole group saw five squadrons of 12 Stormhawk fighters ambushing a large force of Scrin Stormrider fighters and Thunder bombers (think a larger version of the former fighter but with a couple of defensive plasma guns) that were heading for their position. a swarm of ADMM and ODMM missiles impacted the hundreds of Scrin aircraft which were maneuvering to try and dodge the incoming missile attacks. While some were successful, around 78% of the force was shot down as the Stormhawks fell upon the weakened formation. Well trained GDI pilots managed to outfight the mainly AI Scrin fighters, though 8 the GDI fighters were shot down due to the Scrin fighters focusing fire on individual fighters. Eventually, all Scrin aircraft were shot down.

Then 16 more Stormhawks escorting 12 Akula attack aircraft flew in as heavy attack planes fired Lancelot AGMs, 40mm cannon rounds, and Ion blasts which took down an approaching force of eight Tripods with hundreds of Shock Troopers as half of the Stormhawks armed with guided explosive bombs and sonic bombs dropped their payload on the swarm of Shock Troopers along with Scrin Troopers, Ravagers, and Archons that were launching another attack. Hundreds were destroyed as GDI Goliath APCs and Armata IFVs opened fire on the approaching forces, 50 cal rounds to 20mm and 30mm rounds tore into the incoming force.

"Looks like their beginning to pull back." Lt. James said aloud.

"Yeah, but they'll try again soon enough." Cole said. His comms then beeped as he opened the line. "This Centurion Phoenix, give me a sit-rep."

 _"Phoenix, this Havoc."_ Casey said on the other side of the line. _"Me, Kaze, Ursa, Primal, Spirit, Spectre, and Raider are currently fighting in the nearby town of Abydos. Scrin Archons, Ravagers, and Drudges supported by Gunwalkers, Seeker tanks, and a squadron of Devourer tanks which have surrounded B company of the 45th Infantry Regiment. They're under heavy fire and while they have defenses set up, it won't be long until they overrun their position. We're currently helping in holding the enemy off and have gotten word two companies of Mammoth MBTs with supporting vehicles and infantry are on the way but won't get here soon enough if the Scrin continue the assault. See what units you can link up with and get over here fast."_

"How many enemies are near the town?" Cole questioned.

 _"Battalion sized with a dozen Gunwalkers, a dozen Seekers, and the aforementioned_ _Devourer tanks. Recon UAVs have spotted another battalion on their way with a trio of Hexapods leading the attack."_

"Understood, heading there now. Hold position until reinforcements get there." Cole told his friend.

 _"Roger that, see about getting here soon otherwise we may just drive them back before you get here. Havoc out."_ Casey said jokingly before cutting the comms.

Cole rolled his eyes as he turned to the Lt. "Lt. James, what other forces does the 1st battalion have on hand and what forces were sent to this sector?"

"C Company is on standby along with a company of Preds, a company of Charioteer SPHs, a Platoon of Armadillo APCs, two platoons of Slingshot Mk IIIs, and two platoons of Hunter II TDs." Lt. James responded. "Their should also be a platoon of SAS troopers nearby as well."

Cole thought over the forces he would be able to bring over to relieve the besieged forces. The Preds wold be able to destroy the light to medium vehicles the Scrin could use, and depending on the main armament of said tanks, they could be able to deal with Annihilator Tripods. The Armadillo APCs were known as the heaviest armored vehicle that wasn't a battle tank which could bring a similar amount of firepower to a battlefield. The support SPHs can lay down enough fire against infantry charges and the TDs could be able to help in bringing down Scrin vehicles quickly if they concentrated their fire against the larger Scrin vehicles.

"What about air support?" Cole questioned.

"The Scrin are throwing a large umber of Stormrider fighters along with their newer Waverider fighters at the air force. Command says they once they get a clear opening, they'll deploy a few squadron of Akula attack aircraft at the incoming Scrin waves." The Lieutenant responded. "Though we do have a few squadrons of Eagle fight-bombers and Stormhawk fighters on standby along with a squadron of Halberd bombers in case we need to level any large force or a Hexapod or Octopod that gets in the way. However, we'll need to be sparing with them since the Scrin could send fighters against them."

"Understood, get the men together Lieutenant we'll be heading out." Cole said as he walked over to a nearby weapon crate as he picked up a Rorsch AMR, several rounds, and a few more grenades and put it on his suit. "If there's any more units we can get along the way, see to it they can join up with us. That sector that Havoc and the other Centurions are holding is a key area of the nearby sector that overlooks a crossroads where reinforcements and supplies can be brought up to both the forces in New Neapolis City and the fighting along with the Thermopylae mountains. If they get artillery there they'll be able to both cut of the routes and launch a flanking attack on our forces stationed here."

"Centurion Phoenix, with all due respect if that's the case then why is it so lightly defended?" On of the Marines asked.

"They must have found a pass or route that was lightly defended or unleashed enough units to overpower the lines close to the town." Cole said as he brought up a holographic display of the surrounding area. The Scrin were highlighted in red as several forces were closing in on Abydos as they were moving in a canyon which allowed the GDI forces stationed in the town to fire at using Guardian cannons and railgun emplacements in front of the town along with Vulcan emplacements and Watchtowers, Jackhammer artillery and from the town square and main park along with mortars stationed close to the frontlines. "They would be able to hold there but my guess is that they'll be running out of ammo soon or the Scrin attacks are getting closer to the point where they can overwhelm the defenses."

He then zoomed out the image and showed that there was a pass they could use to flank the advancing forces which only had a company sized force of Scrub units with a trio of Tripods supporting them. "We take out this unit that is situated where the main Scrin attack will occur. If we can time the strike right and break through the defensive position, we should be able to weaken the main attack and the air strikes could be able to decimate the force so the main reinforcements can reinforce the position for the foreseeable future."

"Well guess it's the best plan we have," Lt. James said, "I'm guessing you'll be working with the SAS in attacking the position first?"

"Of course Lt," Cole said, "I'll see about causing enough of a mess that will allow your men to clean things up. I'll give your forces the opening you'll need. Of course, they're maybe the chance that we'll run into more Scrin on the way so speed will be of the essence."

Lt. James nodded and turned to his platoon, "You heard the Commando jarheads! We need to help out the Army guys that are under fire! Time to show the grunts how we Marines roll! Can I get a Oorah!?"

"OORAH!" The whole group of Marines yelled out loud.

"Alright people, saddle up and let's move out!" Cole said the forces began to move out.

* * *

 _45 minutes later, outside of_ _Abydos_

Cole dove into a crater which had been made by an earlier artillery strike. Now he was opening fire on the incoming Shock Troopers that was coming in swarms. They had managed to take out the force that was guarding the pass with few causalities after he lured them into an ambush and times the airstrike for maximum effect. They had then hit the advancing force hard in the flank as he ordered for all units to blitz the enemy with as much fire as they could while staying on the move to force them to slow down and focus on them. He then ordered a artillery barrage form the supporting Juggernaut walkers as they took out the emplacements the Scrin had set up along with the Predators focusing fire on the Walkers. They did lose a few vehicles, tanks, and several Marines, but they had finally accomplished the mission and saved the forces in Abydos.

However, it was still going to be some time until the main relief force arrived.

"Phoenix on your left!" A gruff British voice sounded aloud as he quickly took down a pair of approaching Archons. He then saw one of the SAS troopers flying overhead as they fired down with their GD-15 laser rifle they put down a number of Drudges that were trying to fire upon him. He then fired off a grenade from the under slung grenade launcher as the explosive took out another group of the quadrupedal Scrin as he then landed while rolling. Cole then switched his GD-14 into its Ion Cannon mode and sniped a Heavy Archon in the head that was planning to fire on a pair of GDI Marines that were advancing.

The pair of Spec Ops soldier then met up in another crater. The SAS Trooper had a emblem that had skull on top of the handle of a dagger with a pair of wings coming from either side of the handle along with a laurel wreath over a gray spade in the black background.

"Any ideas on how to deal with the swarm right in front of us?" The SAS Trooper said with a bit of snark in his tone.

"I'm thinking about it as I'm shooting Captain Price." Cole said to rather famous SAS soldier that had been known for being one of the most wanted soldiers (other then the various Commandos of the different branches of the program and a few other notable Spec Ops soldiers). "Are the artillery units in the town ready to fire yet since the supply convoy we picked up arrived in town?"

Before the British born soldier could reply, a number of thumps and large booms sounded off from behind them as several dozen mortar and artillery rounds fell upon the advancing Scrin force.

"I think that's a yes Phoenix." Price said aloud.

Cole then saw another Tripod advance as it began to open fire as he moved up as he then pulled out his Rorsch AMR and aimed at the one of the cannons on the walker as he was able to damage it before it could fire, which caused it to misfire and blow up. He then saw a pair of Gunwalkers go down due to a pair of Javelin missiles along with a number of Shock Troopers dropping form the snipers in the Marines and the forces from the town.

 _Commander Masters..._

More friendly tanks showed up, this time Mammoth Mk V tanks with some that were armed with Ion Cannons engaging the group of Hexapods and Tripods that were charging at their position. There was no doubt to Cole this must have been the advance force of the reinforcements that were on their on their way once word had gotten out about how tenuous their position was. Cole then used his jetpack to move above a Ravager and shot down fast as he slashed down the middle of the Scrin form as he then used his Over the Shoulder MLRS to damage another as he dashed forward and fired with his Nighthawk pistol at a small group of buzzards. he then slid on the ground as he slashed off the leg of a shock trooper before he tossed a disk under it, causing it to destroyed once it fell. He then blocked a slash from a blade using Archon as he dodged another slash as quickly redrew his pistol fired at its head, killing it.

A barrage of Ion Pulse blasts fired from the arriving group of Hornet hover artillery brought down a pair of Tripods and decimated a company of Shock Troopers. Plus he could hear the sound of Jackhammer artillery rounds raining down on the approaching Tripods, taking down the shields and decimating the large walkers with pieces of metal flying everywhere.

 _Commander_ _..._

Cole redrew his GD-14 and fired at another group of Archons as he kept dodging the incoming fire using the boosters on his ICS suit. He then slid behind a destroyed piece of a fallen Tripod and switched to his Ion Cannon, firing on a group of Shock Troopers that was charging at him. Several Scrin Artillery units soon fired away in the distance, their shots hitting a couple of squads of GDI soldiers. Their energy shields wee easily taken down by the sheer explosive force as bodies were launched in several directions, with limbs also being flung every which way. Screams of GDI soldiers in pain sounded in the chaos of battle as the reinforcements that Cole had brought with him were slowing the Scrin forces as he could tell the fire fro the distant Mammoth tanks was closing in as the Hexapod was taking fire along with volleys of missiles slamming into the Scrin fighters that were approaching from above.

 _Commander Masters..._

Cole then saw the Hexapod approaching him as he took down another pair of Shock Troopers. He looked in fear at the war machine facing him with one of of its Tiberium laser cannons at him. He could hear the approaching heavy tanks in the back ground as the beam charged up as was about to fire on him. Suddenly, a bright flash appeared before him, blinding his view as he closed his eyes and put an arm in front of him in order to try and block out the light.

 _Commander!_

* * *

 **Present time**

 **UNSC _Infinity_**

Cole's eyes then opened in shock as he looked around seeing his was back in the meeting room with Havoc and Fang over him. He then shook his head to reorient himself as the two helped him back up. He couldn't help but shake his head as he cleared his vision, trying to get a better picture of what was happening around him. The Spartans and Centurions were already up on their feet and looking around for what caused the _Infinity_ to be put inside the metal planet. Miranda and Lasky were being helped up by Master Chief and Palmer respectively.

"Okay Captain, care to explain what just happened to us?" Raven said as he got his center of balance back.

Miranda turned to Roland and spoke up. "Roland, what the hell just pulled us inside Requiem?"

"Me and Cortana analyzed what just pulled us in. Our engines got turned offline before the planet pulled us in by the gravity well." Roland said. "Something must have awoken in the planet that caused it to open and pull us inside since we weren't able to detect anything major until Requiem suddenly came alive." The AI was concerned in how this was possible. The engines used by the _Infinity_ were Forerunner made, which made them above anything Humanity and the Covenant had in terms of performance. However, it was now clear that something on the planet must have caused some sort of jamming signal or command that stopped the engines, preventing the

"Is there a Forerunner signal that's keeping the ship from moving?" Miranda questioned.

"Forerunner?" Raven said. "What is that, another alien race?"

 _"...ommder. Commander Masters, this Captain Eric Summers of the GST Valor."_

Cole's BCS came online as his comms flared up. He brought up the holographic display and connected to the signal. "This is Commander Masters, how did you get inside the planet Captain?" Cole was relieved to know his task force was inside the planet, meaning that he would be able to deal with any enemy force that he would come across on this planet. Due to the BCS or Battlefield Command System which can allow users to see the battlefield from either a 3-D or bird's eye view of the battlefield, allowing them to see enemy advances and being able to send units to intercept the advancing force, position their soldiers in certain locations via sending data to the soldiers, and would allow them get real time data on both the status of friendly and enemy units.

 _"We were able to get into the planet before the large opening closed by going at full power, though it was a close call all things considered."_ Captain Summers said. _"We're trying to find a suitable place to start setting up a military base for future combat or exploration of this new location."_

Cole sighed, "Understood Captain, see to it that defenses are set up quickly. Deploy a Defense and Support Crawler ASAP, there's no telling when the Covenant will launch an assault."

 _"Understood Commander, we'll have our forces set up within 30 minutes, we're currently mobilizing all of the Task Force's units and currently arming them up."_ Captain Summers spoke up. _"We also got word that Razgriz Squadron was able to fly into the planet as well and they are performing recon to watch any Covenant forces that could on the way."_

"Good to hear Captain, knowing those five they'll be able to weaken any forces they send via transports if they still have enough armaments." Cole said with a small smile. "I'll about heading over their with the Admiral once we get the chance, so see to the base construction in the meantime."

" _Roger that Commander, Valor out._ " Summers said as he cut the connection between the two men.

Cole then turned to Raven, "It seems that Captain Summers chose to break formation and follow in after us Admiral. He's overlooking the construction of the base my task force will be using while we are in here, so we'll have units on hand to deal with the Covenant if they chose to come after both our groups for revenge. Once we wrap things here, we should see about getting to their location and start finding ways to coordinate with the UNSC to break out of this planet."

"Good, at least we'll have plenty of firepower to toss at the Covenant if they come looking for a fight." Raven said with a nod. He then turns to Miranda with a look of curiosity of his face. "So Captain Keyes, what was the topic you had brought up before about something called Forerunner?"

Miranda breathed out a little, it seemed that she would need to tell them about the ancient race sooner rather then later.

"Well, I guess we don't have much of a choice." Miranda said as she turned to Lasky who nodded in understanding as she sighed aloud. She then turned to the holo display where Roland and Cortana were and spoke to them. "Bring up the images and data we have about the Forerunners so GDI can see it."

"Yes Ma'am." The two AI said at the same time. They imputed a few codes and brought up images of the various Forerunner structures, constructs, and technology that the UNSC had been able to find from researching the remains of the ancient race. Raven and Cole were impressed by what they were seeing in front of them, at seeing an alien race that maybe could be far ahead of the Scrin terms of power and perhaps could have had a larger amount of territory then the Scrin especially since they could see the number of planets they had left their architecture.

"You see, millions of years ago there was a race of highly advanced beings that controlled many planets across the Milky Way Galaxy." Miranda started. "They were known as the Forerunners, beings that posses the technological expertise to be known as a Tier 1 civilization, the highest level of civilization possible." They then brought up images of what images and projections of Forerunner ships and the weapons they've discovered so far. "They utilized advanced hard-light technology, ionized particle weapons that could easily break down matter, had incredibly advanced powered combat armor, and even developed incredibly advanced AI that could monitor massive space structures. They were far more advanced then that of both us and the Covenant combined, to the point where they could overwhelm both of our factions without issue."

Both Cole and Raven were surprised to see the type of robots and weapons they were able to see from the UNSC videos. They also saw the advanced robots that the Forerunners used on their installations such as the Sentinels and Enforcers which acted as the guardians of the various stations.

"I see, so does that mean the ship we saw completely destroy the remaining Covenant ships was using Forerunner tech?" Wes questioned as his image appeared on the holo-table. "I scanned that thing along with probably most AI in our Battlegroup in order to see what was so unique or odd about that ship. It is similar to some technology that we have been planning on tackling in the future, such as improving available hard light tech plus we have been been using ionized particle weapons ourselves."

"The _Dawn II_ is the first of a planned future class of warship once we have better understanding of Forerunner tech along with once we are able to mass produce it." Miranda admitted. "We were planning to use it during a mission against the Covenant Storm, but since the Storm had chosen to gather around Requiem it was possible that we could be able to test the ship in a combat situation. It uses an advanced weapon known as a light mass fusillade array, a far more advanced version of our MACs along with ionized blasters that act as advanced AA guns. Its basically a ship killer that could take on the best of the Covenant in a one on one fight, and could be arguably the best ship we have other than the Infinity in terms of tech."

"I'm guessing making a ship that's larger then that of a frigate would be far too much for you to make even with access to their tech?" Raven questioned.

"Well yes and no, we could be able to build a larger ship but even with the technology we found it was incredibly expensive in order to make it." Miranda said. "The weapons themselves could be made to be equipped to current UNSC ships after enough time, but it would take very powerful engines in order to give enough energy for them along with the rest of the ship's functions."

"I can certainly understand, R&D projects and when trying out new technologies do take time for them to be used in mass numbers." Cole said. "But anyway, what happened to these Forerunners? If they were that advanced, why is it that they abandoned their structures for your people found them?"

Miranda frowned along with Cortana as the AI spoke up. "Well Commander Masters, That was become of the Flood."

"The same parasite you showed us before?" Havoc said.

"That's correct," Cortana said while shaking a little as she remembered the hardship she had suffered when she was stuck with the Gravemind on the wreck of High Charity. "The Flood managed to infect so many of their populations plus even managed to deal with their highly advanced AI. Trust me, they could be even more dangerous then even your own enemies due to how they inflect and spread."

The GDI personnel couldn't help but look at each other in concern knowing seeing just how dangerous the Flood could be. If the parasite inflected the planets under control of the Scrin and weren't stopped, they could use the massive numbers of ships and units the robotic insect-like race had to overwhelm their forces.

However before Cortana could speak up again, Cole got an alert via his BCS as he pulled up the holo projection such showed Captain Summers in his chair.

" _Commander Masters, we have incoming Covenant forces attacking the base!_ " Summers said as Cole saw several groups of enemy dropships colored red heading towards the base which was still under construction. While they had been able to set up several pillboxes along with multiple defensive positions set up, said positions starting to open fire upon the incoming enemy forces. The few numbers of Anti-infantry, anti-air, and even anti-tank turrets began to open fire on the incoming enemy forces as a number of Covenant dropships (those mainly being Phantoms and Spirits) were shot down as the infantry units along with any armored units that were already on the round began to engage the incoming enemy forces with as much firepower as possible.

"Can't believe their launching an attack so soon." Cole said as he saw the number of dropships increasing along with Covenant vehicles with a number of soldiers beginning to make their advance via recon UAVs that the _Valor_ deployed following entering the planet. He could guess that the larger ships the Covenant possess must have landed quickly and unloaded as many forces as possible while the UNSC and GDI were still adjusting themselves after what happened to them. Plus, he could only guess that he was unconscious for a while, so it could have been possible for them to deploy their forces if their leader was smart enough to see such an advantage. However, it could also mean that the Covenant ships were not too far away and once the chance comes, he could order an attack on the Covenant ships to bring down their forces in a mighty hammer blow.

"I'll see about heading over there ASAP to take command of the situation. If I can get the UNSC involved, we maybe able to rake down the Covenant forces sooner and find a way off of this planet more quickly." Cole said to the captain.

" _Understood Commander, we'll hold our ground until your return. Summers out._ " Summers said as he cut communications.

Cole then looked towards Miranda with urgency. "Captain Keyes, the GDI ship that followed the Infinity is currently under attack as it is building up its base. I'm not sure right now how many forces the Covenant could send from the ships that were sucked in with us, but I need to get back to base and take control of the situation there. If its possible, could you send some of your forces to possibly assist in the counterattack once my task force push back their assault?"

Miranda looked to Cortana and Roland as they put away the images of the Forerunners that they were showing and pulled up any data they could gather from the surrounding area form the crash site. From what they were able to gather from their sensors (the crash earlier had caused some of their systems to malfunction), they were able to pick up that dozens of dropships were heading towards the GDI base.

"Actually." Roland brought up. "We were able to pick up from the Covenant's battlenet that a few escape pods had also been sucked into the planet with the Covenant force that had arrived. There's no doubt they must have told their fellow soldiers the devastation that your forces did to their fleet, and now they probably want to destroy your ship and the soldiers it carries as revenge."

"Well those bastards have another thing coming if they think my men are going to fall so easily." Cole said with a scowl on his face. "Captain Keyes, is there any forces that you can spare to help out?"

Miranda could see the look in Cole's eyes, one of a commander that wanted to fight alongside his fellow soldiers and would go through hell and back for them. She then turned to Roland and spoke up, "Roland, get several Marine platoons ready for combat along with enough Cougar IFVs to bring them to the GDI base as soon as you can."

"Understood Captain." Roland said as he vanished to see what Marine units were able to be freed up for the mission.

Cole smiled at the UNSC captain as Havoc then stepped up to Cole. "Commander, permission to join the reinforcements? I think for I can speak for both my team and Reaper that we're ready take the fight to these damn aliens."

"Do you have any problems Captain?" Cole said as he looked to Miranda.

Miranda took a couple of seconds to think about it. She was well aware of how skilled the GDI supersoldiers were from the Spartan teams that had been on Madma's flagship., knowing that they were just as capable as Spartans in battle. While she did have thoughts of doubt of letting the newcomers use UNSC weaponry or vehicles, she knew that they were more focused on saving their fellow soldiers.

"None at all Captain Havoc." Miranda said. "Chief, I want you, Blue Team, and Gray Team to go with the relief force. You'll be with the Centurions so make sure to get our boys there quick."

"Roger that Captain." Chief said while saluting.

* * *

 **Pathfinder Base** _  
_

GDI Marine Sargent Collin Richards and his fireteam were taking fire from the incoming force of Covenant troopers. The forces from the Crawler that had touched down were quickly mustering a defense against a regimental sized force that had been deployed from a group of large Covenant transports. While GDI were able to set up several defensive emplacements including 30mm Vulcan emplacements along with Vulcan towers and a few AA batteries (based on the one from Tiberium Wars) which allowed them to damage the incoming forces, they only had a couple of Marine companies on the ground along with a company of Predator tanks and several Guardian II APCs. The tanks were busy taking on the Wraith tanks of the Covenant (which they had learned via the data sent by the UNSC AI Cortana during the space battle. Thankfully, all GDI soldiers could get instant access to data on enemy units via the Codex, so they knew the vehicles that the alien coalition would send after them. The first wave was brought in by Lich transports that brought in several Wraiths, Ghosts, and Spectres with accompanying infantry forces.

Of course, they were also being attacked from the air by enemy Seraph fighters and Banshee attackers which caused the GST that had managed to set down to deploy four squadrons of Stormhawks and Eagles from the Support Crawler that had been deployed along with the Defensive Crawler that was disembarking more troops. Engineers were deploying the assembly sets and nano-machines that were able to set up four more AA batteries with 2 30mm quad-barreled Gatling guns that were intercepting the incoming Covenant craft. Not only that, but Razgriz Squadron along with the other fighters were able to take out a number Lich transports and Phantom dropships which meant they were trying to use their remaining munitions to help stem the tide of forces that are hitting their position. The soldiers could see Eagles armed with bombs hitting Covenant armor units quickly, turning Wraiths, Spectres, and other such vehicles into scrap. However, a number of were taken down by Covenant AA units focusing fire with three to four of their Shade Turrets firing on one fighter at a time. Of course, the turrets were being targeted by mortar teams and Razgriz squadron was giving a distraction when they could, but they could see the Covenant was moving up some of their Anti-Air Wraiths in order to take down the pesky fighters.

Covenant Artillery as also assisting in hitting the base with GDI engineers setting up as many defenses as possible. Revenants and Wraiths were firing their Plasma mortars at any of the GDI defensive emplacements to assist their forces pushing on the base. However, one brave crew of GDI engineers managed to set up a Jackhammer artillery station which unleashed 200mm rounds at a group of three Revenants, easily blasting them into oblivion.

Richards brought up his GD-14 as he fired on an approaching group of Grunts as several more Marines fired at a trio of incoming Banshees with their Javelin missile launchers, managed to shoot down two of them while the third was badly damaged. The damaged Banshee kept on approaching as it fired off a Fuel Rod shot at a Vulcan gun, damaging it before it was shot down by a Marine Raider using their Rorsch AMR at the pilot's cockpit. It then flew out of control and nearly crashed into the Defense Crawler as the engineers manged to bring up another AA battery, this one having 4 Gatling guns instead of two. The improved AA battery, known as the Wirbelwind Battery was able to shoot down an incoming Seraph as it was about to launch at Fuel Rod shot at a group of engineers that were setting up more defenses. It would also prove to be effective against incoming Banshees due to their slow speed along with being able to shred any transports that tried to bring in more forces that got through GDI's fighter screen.

Then, as another squadron of Seraphs launched a volley of Fuel Rod Cannon shots at the GDI soldiers below them, the Wirbelwind proved to be deadly effective as their shields became depleted quickly before they were shot down by the other AA batteries kicked in. However, a few of the Fuel Rod blasts did end up wounding and killing a few more Marines. While they did have a sizable amount of NanoMiraculum on aboard the Valor, but they could easily run out of it if casualties mounted quickly. Of course, they did have medical tech that would allow them keep their wounded alive for a longer period in time, so they could see which ones would need the incredible medicine.

Collin then opened fire with his GD-16 an Elite that was firing at another Marine fireteam and with a couple of bursts at its head. He was able to bring down the shield and a Marine sniper was able to take down the tall alien. While he grumbled at someone stealing his kill a little, he soon focused on a group of Grunts that were heading towards one of the pillboxes that a Marine squad had set up as he fired from his rifle grenade launcher at the group. The grenade he had sent down was an airburst round that took out the group as two of them dropped their plasma grenades which blew up instantly.

"Jacobs! Get the birds firing on us from the ridges!" Richards said to Corporal Troy Jacobs, the sharpshooter of the fireteam. Troy aimed down his GD-17A DMR towards the Jackals which we're firing their Covenant Carbines upon their fellow troopers. He quickly aimed at the shield arm (which he saw was exposed, which made him wonder why they couldn't have made a better version that fully covered their arm) and let off a shot that tore off its forearm. He then quickly aimed at the head of the wounded alien as both the HUD in his helmet and his scope was able to assist him in making the calculations

"Targets down Sarge!" Troy said in a southern accent.

25 year old Lance Corporal Lewis Gardner, the heavy weapons specialist of the fireteam aimed down his Javelin missile launcher at a duo of Banshees as he fired a cluster warhead missile at them. The warhead broke apart as four mini missiles as they broke off into pairs and impacted the two aircraft. "Two for one baby!" Lewis said as yelled in triumph for taking down both enemy craft. He then quickly hit the deck as he saw one the Jackals that were getting closer to the base try to snipe at him which Troy quickly took out. The African-American soldiers then pulled out his GDM-22 LMG as he aimed down his weapon via the 4x scope on top of his weapon at an Elite that was charging up to a pair of Marines who were manning an M5 Gatling gun and firing upon several groups of the more muscular Grunts who were throwing themselves upon the defenses. He shot off a few bursts which took down the alien's shields before he brought it down with another burst.

Meanwhile, the team's assault trooper 25 year old Dean Miller brought up his GD-14 into its assault rifle mode and let down a burst of fire upon a pair of Jackals. The New York native used the 4x scope in order to help him keep his bursts accurate as he tore off their shield arms and fired at their heads, killing them quickly. He then moved up to pull a wounded soldier back to their barricade as he let loose a few bursts to keep a group of Grunts suppressed until a Marine armed with a GDM-21 Medium Machine gun gunned down the group of aliens.

"Don't worry man," He said to the wounded soldier who was biting back the pain. "we'll get you a medic ASAP." He then saw a nearby medic and yelled over to him. "MEDIC! GET OVER HERE!"

Said medic was pinned down by a pair of Hunters along with a group of Marines armed with regular GD-15 laser rifles and GD-15 OICWs who were readying to open fire on the aliens to give the medic covering fire. Then a Goliath II APC appeared and fired at the aliens with their quad 20mm autocannons as the the APHE rounds blasted apart the Lekgolo worms and the armor that covered them. The Marines popped up and fired upon incoming Elites charging with Fuel Rod cannons as the green energy blots along with the integrated grenade launchers quickly brought down the split-lipped aliens as the aliens missed their shots with the round bouncing over the barricades and exploding harmlessly behind them from several feet away.

The medic used the APC as cover as it took fire from a pair of Revenants which it fired its 20mm cannons at and tore apart the closer Covenant vehicle before its energy failed and drove back to avoid another shot before a GDI Marine armed with a missile launcher took out the remaining one. The medic ran up to the wounded soldier and applied healing nanomachines to help seal up the wound as the M300 power armor had released limited amounts of painkilllers in order to help keep him alive more then long enough for the soldier to be treated. The medic also applied nanofoam, which helped to fully seal up the wound and reduce the pain the soldier felt from the burns that were on him.

*BOOM*

The Four Marines turned to see a Predator tank roll up to them, its powerful 150mm gun blasting open an incoming Wraith Tank. It then fired its 50 cal Gatling guns and 30mm LAAGs at incoming infantry as the increasing numbers of AA turrets helped the armored forces to push forward, their enemy shields soaking up damage from Covenant weaponry as a fresh Marine company soon landed. The company then brought up their mortar platoon as they began to fire 81mm rounds into the incoming forces using either airburst shells or regular HE shells.

A squadron of Wraiths flew over the ridge as they fired their plasma mortars as fast as possible as the Pred opened fire with their main cannon and destroyed one of the heavy hover vehicles. Then four two man missile teams then advanced and opened fire with their Javelin missile launchers and four of the right missiles took out the remaining tanks and the other four were fired on a group of Banshees. Their warheads were cluster warheads, which split open and let loose four mini missiles each and took out 10 Banshees and damaged another four, which allowed the latter to be shot down by two of their AA batteries.

Then, several Goliath II APCs came out with 4 of them using their quad 20mm cannons tearing apart more Covenant soldiers as they advanced to try and overwhelm the GDI defenses. Covenant soldiers armed with Fuel Rod cannons and other heavy weapons were able to blast apart several of their pillboxes as the Marines pulled back as four more Vulcan positions were set up further gunned down more enemy soldiers as some Grunts and Jackals were moving behind the Hunters, which were the only ones that could take enough of the new human's firepower. However, even they were brought down by GDI Marines using GD-21 Personal Ion Cannons, GD-22 Laser Cannons, and GD-25 Particle cannons which were more then enough to punch through the heavy armor of the Hunters.

Then several company sized units of Wraith tanks, along with Revenants, Spectres, and now Locusts that were being brought in via Lich transports close to the battle zone were coming in via GDI UAVs seeing the advancing forces heading towards the GDI base. Thankfully, a company of Preds and now two platoons of Rhino Heavy tanks and Guardian II with AT missiles were coming down via Narwhal transports along with Super Voxs bringing in the vehicles along with another company of Marines along with two platoons of Heavy Troopers.

*STOMP* *STOMP*

All GDI Marines then looked up to see an incoming four legged walker approach the base from over the ridgeline. It was none other then the infamous Scarab walker as it walked up towards the GDI base, leading the main assault with the Covenant reinforcements.

"That thing looks like the walkers the damn robo-bugs use!" Gardner said as he reloaded his rocket launcher.

Three Predator tanks rolled up alongside the previous one as they opened fire on the walker, focusing on the weakpoints for walkers that they had known for dealing with Scrin walkers. This meant they blasted at the leg joints of the walker and the joints that connected the legs to the walker. The guns of the GDI medium tanks were far stronger then that of the 90mm guns of the UNSC M808B and M808C Scorpion tanks, easily allowing the shells to break apart the armor of the walker. One of the incoming shells were able to blast apart the leg from the body as The Scarab was able to fire off a blast from their main Plasma Projector at one of the tanks. It was able to bring down most of the shield, but the tough composite armor of the tank was able to stop any bleed though of the weapon's heat. This meant the tank was more then able to stand against the infamous walker of the Covenant in ways UNSC armored forces during the war would have dreamed of.

Several more Plasma Mortar shots came over the ridge as the GDI ground forces took cover was much as they could as a trio of Juggernaut artillery walkers walked out of the Crawler. Several more GDI Marines and engineers were killed but the energy barriers they had kept on their M300 power armor, the number was kept low as the Juggernauts opened fire as 250mm shells arced over the ridge line as they were getting firing data from friendly fighters that were flying above the battlefield as they were clearing out the remaining Covenant fighters, allowing the walkers to precisely fire upon the Wraiths and Revenants that were behind the natural barrier. Dozens more Covenant fighters and the Covenant artillery positions were being torn apart with the HE shells that were impacting the ground around them.

Soon, a flight of 12 bomb carrying Stormhawks flew overhead and dropped both guided 1000 lb bombs and cluster bombs on the advancing Covenant forces, adding more deaths to the already considerable number of deceased Covenant forces. However, the sheer numbers of arriving Covenant troopers was still proving a problem as more Covenant artillery guns were being set up and firing on the GDI base, several shots managing to put 5 of the 16 Predator tanks out of commission after overwhelming their energy shields with focused fire. Then he saw the Stormhawk that was flown by Blaze taking down several more Banshees with his planes guns and engaging in a dogfight with a Seraph fighter as he maneuvered into position to fire a Hawk AA missile and shot down the enemy craft.

Then the Rhino heavy tanks moved forward as they blasted apart Wraith tanks and Spectre vehicles as both 150mm guns blew apart the vehicles with KE rounds. The Anti-Tank versions of the Guardian IIs then fired their AT missiles in volleys as they blasted apart 12 Wraith tanks and badly damaged just as many of them. Then several more Guardian Cannon turrets which had been modified into railguns had popped up and were firing upon the Locusts and pair of Rigs had set down and brought up four 105mm railguns to fire on the Spectres, the incredibly fast slugs easily smashing apart the alien vehicles.

Then a group of Zone Troopers appeared as they advanced toward a pair of Hunters as they were charging at some of the Vulcan emplacements along with pillboxes that the Marines had made. The first three Zone Troopers fired their railguns, which were able to blast apart the arm shields as they closed the distance. The first two Zone Troopers used their jump packs to boost forward and slammed into the charging aliens as the armor allowed them to match up to the large aliens. They can activated their fusion punch knifes as they glowed blue with energy.

 _'Hopefully the UNSC can nail these bastards with a flank attack soon. We could use the reprieve to shore up the base and get more of our forces here._ Collins though to himself as volleys of missiles from the _Valor_ began to fly overhead at more of the incoming Covenant forces, the skies clear for it to do so as Razgriz Squadron was reloading their planes. The Marine Sargent seeing that the main battle had now begun with the main force was about to begin as more GDI forces were sent in to help hold the line.

* * *

 **UNSC Convoy approaching GDI Base**

Sixteen Cougar IFVs holding 30 UNSC Marines each, totaling 480 in total advanced at high speed along with a few Warthogs that had Blue and Gray Team driving them with the Centurions riding shotgun or handling the M41 LAAGs on the back. Six more Warthogs joined them with M68 Gauss Cannons with more Marines driving them, who would be firing on any approaching light vehicles. Cole sadly remained back on the _Infinity_ with Admiral Raven as they needed him for later in order to make the necessary maneuvers for their forces. They would be able to come in via the Orca Dropship that was still in the hanger bay as the pilot was readying the craft to go into battle.

The path was relatively straight forward among the mountainous area the Infinity landed at. There was a large opening made from two cliff-faces making it look like an open gate for the convoy to move through. From what UNSC UAVs were able to pick up, there was a couple of Covenant positions that were set up to try and stop them from sending forces to the other human force on the planet as they tossed their main force against it. The super soldiers would be able to move quickly at the fortifications and tear through them and allow the Cougars to use their firepower to exploit any chaos they would cause and break through.

The Warthogs driven by the Spartans soon got visual of the first fortification as they got closer to the turrets and barriers that they had set up. The Covenant were beginning to open fire on the vehicles which were closing in on them. The Warthogs soon opened fire with their chain guns and Gauss cannons, which the Centurions were using effectively against the enemy's positions. Raider and Berserker, who were in Gauss Hogs, managed to take out a pair of Shade Turrets within one second of the other as Mike-120 was aiming his Spartan Laser from the shotgun seat of the Hog he and Raider were in at an oncoming Wraith tank. Soon enough the bright red beam went out and completely destroyed the heavy vehicle as Jai drove his Hog out the line of fire of a pair of Revenants which were firing at them. Havoc, who was in the gunners spot in a Warthog that John and Fred were in with the former driving and the latter firing with his SAW at any unfortunate Covenant soldiers, fired the Gauss Cannon at one of the Revenants, striking where the driver would most likely be. It badly damaged the vehicle as it moved to a stop before another Gauss round took it out.

Soon, the first three Cougars appeared in view of the Covenant was they unleashed their 30mm chain guns at the enemy forces. One of the IFVs fired airburst rounds over the barriers that had been set up, killing those behind them while the other fired upon incoming Ghosts using APHE rounds which tore apart the scout vehicles like they were tissue paper. In fact, two more Cougars appeared and were equipped with ATGM launchers firing 150mm missiles that were larger versions of the usual M41 SSR MAV/AW's 102mm missiles. The missiles tore across the air at high speed as they slammed into two more Revenants.

The Covenant forces at the outpost assembled their forces as much as possible in order to slow the UNSC advance so they could get reinforcements from their main base being set up several miles from the two human positions. A group of 20 Ghosts, 8 Revenants, and 4 Wraiths began to speed over to the incoming UNSC force along with accompanying infantry. The Cougars began to open fire on the approaching Covenant vehicles and the Gauss Hogs opened fire on the lighter Ghosts, the rounds having enough kinetic energy to destroy the scout vehicles. The Spartans then drove their Warthogs closer as those armed with M19 12.7mm Gatling guns fired upon the infantry supporting the enemy vehicles, easily tearing apart both the regular and stronger looking Grunts, and managing to focus enough to bring down the shields of Elites.

Chief then drove close enough to a Wraith which allowed Fred to leap from the vehicle onto the heavy tank as he fired away with his SAW. He then opened the hatch of the tank and pulled out the Elite driving the tank, throwing him onto the ground as he got inside the vehicle. UNSC and GDI IFFs soon changed the coloring around it to list the capture tank as friendly as Fred soon turned the vehicle around and fired a Plasma round at one of the remaining Shade Turrets, destroying the emplacement in one shot. The CQC Expert Spartan then boosted the tank forward and nailed a duo of Elites, causing them to lose their shields, which allowed Linda (who had Kelly riding shotgun and Jaeger on the weapon position of the regular chain gun) do drive close to the captured tank. Emily then opened fire on the Elites that were knocked down as the 12.7mm rounds punched through their body armor before Linda drove the Hog up to a pair of Ghosts which opened fired on them. Linda was able to dodge the incoming blasts as Jaeger opened fire on the drivers of the scout vehicles as they closed in. Thanks to her keen eye, she was able to take out the Elites, piloting them as Kelly aimed her shotgun at a nearby Jackal and managed to get a clean shot that blasted its head open.

Soon enough, one of the plasma mortar rounds impacted close to one of the Cougars before it fired an ATGM missile which blows up the Revenant that fired it. Soon, the first 12 Cougars then disembarked from the IFV's and then opened fire on the remaining enemy soldiers, along with some rocket launcher armed Marine opened fire on the remaining Covenant vehicle, the improved warhead taking it out. A few Marines were taken down by Covenant infantry as those equipped with energy shields were able to survive against the incoming fire as they fired back at the remaining infantry.

Some of the Marines were using the newer BR60 rifle, the M320 Grenade Launchers, M739 SAW, MA5D assault rifles, and the M250 LMG along with more of the newer and older weapons as they moved behind the Cougars for cover. They kept up a large stream of fire at the quickly depleting enemy force as the Grunts started to break along with Jackals as they were being torn apart by the UNSC vehicles.

Then all eyes from both forces then looked up to see 16 C713 bombers, the bomber version of the newer GA-TL2 Longsword flew overhead with 18 1000 lb bombs under them along with 12 Broadswords laden with ground attack munitions along with 12 Katana fighters and 12 Sabre fighters flying escort as they headed towards the main Covenant forces to assist GDI fighters that were now attacking the incoming waves of Covenant Dropships and the remaining Banshee Interceptors and Seraphs.

"Well, looks like the Covenant maybe running out of aircraft faster then they could have imagined." Jaeger said to the Spartans in the Warthog with her.

"Yeah, the newer fighters we have are much more powerful then the older Longsword fighters." Kelly said.

Chief then drove up to their Warthog as both him and Fred looked at the other Cougars pushing through the blockade as four C713s appear and start bombing the secondary position the Covenant had set up.

"Captain Keyes was able to get a few squadrons of fighters up since the _Infinity's_ hangers were having malfunctions earlier, preventing us from getting them up." John said. "She sent a bombing run to weaken the enemy position and is sending more in order to weaken the advancing Covenant forces. Reports from UNSC UAVs are that the Covenant are beginning to slow their attacks, meaning that the Storm's leaders must be focusing on defense since they must see be seeing the heavy casualties that attacking your base was causing."

"Good to know Chief." Jaeger said. "Is there anything else that-"

Jai then rolled up with Mike sitting shotgun and Jackal riding in the Gauss turret. "Look! Storm's setting up a Kraken tower." He then pointed to the large structure that was now being set up in the far distance. It soon began to take a number of retreating Banshees, Ghosts, and Phantoms landing on the platforms, as a pair of GDI planes were soon forced back from the Anti-Air Shade turrets as they pulled back from the fire of the weapon emplacements.

"Damn. I'm guessing that's either a massive artillery platform or a command center?" Miguel said to the Spartans.

"It's the latter." Jai said.

"Well, at least we now have a large target for Ion Cannon armed MARV tanks to aim at." Jackal said. "How many of those things can the Covenant bring to bear against us?"

"At best three of them on their CAS Assault Carrier and another inside the CCS Battlecruiser." Mike spoke up.

"They must be using them as a weapons platform and to help better control their forces." Cortana then spoke up from Chief's helmet. "Of course, as Chief said, they must be trying to consolidate their forces and must be aware that they could lose more forces then they can spare due to the small number of ships they could bring in."

"Hold on guys," Logan said to the supersoldiers, "I'm getting word from the Covenant battlenet, they seem to be sending down more of their Scarab Walkers. They must be feeling the pressure

"I'm guessing you guys also have powerful vehicles that could take out their vehicles?" Havoc said to the two members of Gray Team.

Jai and Mike simply nodded. "Our newest tanks are able to better match up with the Covenants, especially against their Scarab Walkers." Mike said.

Chief then turned on his comms to the Cougars that had the UNSC officer that was leading the relief force, Colonel Kyle Warner, a veteran of the Human Covenant War who fought in the Battle of Sigma Octanus IV, and was able to smash a Covenant battalion who had launched a counterattack to try and take out the UNSC base that had been set up on the planet.

"Colonel this is Sierra 117, enemy force has been eliminated and _Infinity_ is sending out dropships with heavy armor to reinforce our advance force. Possible ETA is 15 minutes.

 _"Roger that Spartan, UNSC UAVs are reporting that the bombing has weakened the second position and several Pelicans are bringing in a company of Lupus battle tanks along with gunships. We should be able to catch a good chunk of the Covies once we get through the second barricade. Let's make sure we are able to smash through it in a Blitzkrieg attack before the Covies can pull back. Keep moving forward with the GDI supersoldiers and help get them to their people ASAP so they can help push them back._

"Understood, good luck on your end sir." Chief said as he could see a number of Pelican dropships approaching them with the new battle tanks and with reinforcements and he could see a few medivac Pelicans for any Marines which had been wounded during this battle.

 _"Same with you Chief, Warner out."_ The UNSC officer said before closing out the call.

He then saw the others drive up to them as he soon spoke up. "We're moving up to the second fortification to support the UNSC forces attacking the second Covenant position. They've sent a group of dropships with UNSC Marines supported by gunships, but may need our help take them down."

"Well what are we waiting for comrades? Let's show those xenos what we can do!" Ursa proclaimed.

"He always like that?" Fred said to Raider who was checking his weapons.

"Us and the other Centurion Fireteams under Commander Masters command have known each other for years, so yes he has gotten like this during some important fights Spartan 104." Raider replied. "The Commander and a few others among us have had to deal with this for a long time."

 _'Sam would have gotten along with him if the two had met.'_ Fred thought to himself.

"Well either way, we need to get over to Pathfinder Base if we are going to be able to keep casualties low for our people" Castor said as she was with two female Marines.

"Castor is right, we can talk after we get over to the base." Havoc said. "Let's head out Chief."

"Understood. Move out everyone." Chief said as the warthogs began to speed over to the second position.

After a few minutes, the Warthogs then drove over to the enemy position as they saw UNSC Marines firing upon Covenant forces with a number of missiles impacting Spectre Infantry Support Vehicles which were firing on a platoon of Marines. Then, from one of the Pelicans came a Spartan IV fireteam jumped from the dropship as they fired down as they fell with one firing all three missiles from the the M41A1 rocket launcher and took out two groups of Grunts and took down a Ghost with a lucky shot. Then two of the Peilcans carrying one of the newer Lupus tanks were able to drop them down. Elites we able to kill a number of the Marines although the the newer armor that they wore had reduced the number of killed Marines to 16.

One of the Lupus tanks opened fire on a group of Jackals with a canister shell as the high power metal spheres were able to easily punch through their arm shields and shredded their bodies. The co-axial machine gun in the tank fired at an Elite who fired at a pair of Marines who had to dodge the shot, but the Elite was able to get behind a rock before it was torn apart by the heavy rounds. Then a Revenant drove around the heavy tanks as they fired upon the Marines, wounding 20 and killing 8 more, especially due to deaths being caused by direct hits from the vehicle.

The Spartans and the Marines in the Warthogs floored the gas in order to quickly close the distance. Those with Gauss cannons fired first, with the shots punching into the sides of the Spectres with ease, with only a few missing due to some of the drivers activating the boost at the right time to avoid the incoming slugs. John then turned the vehicle to a small hill which allowed him to jump over the energy wall as Havoc opened fire with the Gauss cannon and Fred opened fire with his SAW. Fred was able to gun down a couple of Elites due to the high speed of his weapon and caused on their heads, which allowed him to kill them after he had brought down their shields. John then drew his Magnum pistol and shot several Grunts and Jackals in the head as Havoc shot the Gauss cannon as fast as he could, focusing on the Hunters and Elites.

Meanwhile, Linda also drew out her pistol and showing her sharp eye was able to headshot the drivers of a pair of Ghosts from several dozen yards away as they used the boost to try and get around them. Kelly continued to fire her shotgun and took down a group of Grunts that tried a suicide rush on their Warthog, the buckshot tearing through the cannon fonder as their plasma grenades fell and exploded.

Castor meanwhile focused her psionic energies into her body as when she saw a Wraith tank moving into position to fire down a group of Marines that were suppressing a trio of Elites with their weapons. She knew that the tank would be able to take them out and with the others focusing on the faster vehicles and taking out the remaining Shade turrets which had brought down one of the Peilcan dropships and damaged two others when they focused down on them. She looked at where the tank was going to be as she bent her legs as built up her power.

"Hey Centurion, what's going on back there?" The Marine driver, Corporal Mary Atkins said as the other Marine with them opened fire on the Covenant with her M250 LMG. She had to admit, the GDI supersoldiers were quite skilled, much like the Spartans in her mind. She had seen them in action during the Battle of Earth, helping the slow down the Covenant advance and helped regular soldiers like her as they held the line against the alien attack on the homeworld of humanity. However, she and those other then the Spartans that were on Madma's flagship, Roland and Cortana, and both Commander Lasky and Captain Keyes didn't know about some of GDI's soldiers being psychics.

"Might wanna stop to let your passenger take the gun after what I'm about to do Corporal." Cynthia said to the UNSC Marine as she then launched herself off of the vehicle as she was now several meters above the tank. She then focused all of her power forward and launched herself at the enemy vehicle and when she got close enough slammed her fist down it. The resulting impact completely blew apart the vehicle as it caused a large shockwave and blew away several Covenant aliens, including Elites as the UNSC were surprised by the maneuver. Thankfully, due to the strong energy shield and a psionic barrier, Castor was unharmed by the move she pulled off.

"Holy hell!" Mary said as she and her partner who was taken aback by what the Tiberium Mutant did. This made the Spartans raise an eyebrow at the sight of the attack. Blue Team had seen images of what Tiberium Mutants with psyonic powers can use, but they hear about them using a move like that.

"Not half bad huh? That was a psionic artillery strike, where a powerful enough psychic user is able to focus enough power into their bodies as they launched themselves forward to land a strong strike that can act similar to an artillery shell with a shockwave and force that could mimic the explosive force that can knock any enemies that were close to the impact site, which can blow them back." Jaeger said to Linda and Kelly they came to a stop for a few seconds.

"Impressive." Kelly said simply.

Linda nodded with her as she then fired her pistol a few more times as she killed another trio of Grunts that were trying for a suicidal charge.

Havoc then fired another Gauss round as he took down another Revenant by killing the driver as the vehicle slammed into a nearby rock. Then another pair of Revenants charged forward as they blasted at more UNSC Marines until a Pelican gunship appeared as it fired a shot from its Spartan Laser and blasted the other with its 70mm autocannon which used APHE rounds to destroy it. The remaining Covenant forces were beginning to fall back as four plane flight of GL-TA2 Longswords flying in and strafing the Covenant infantry with their forward guns and launching a few AGM missiles at the remaining enemy vehicles. The Spartan IV Fireteam then opened fire on a trio of Elite Zealots as they they rushed down at a Marine Fireteam with their blades out. Then two of the Spartan IVs shot forward as they brought out their own energy swords as they clashed with the tall aliens. They were able to

Then another Warthog that had Kaze on the back drove close to the Elites as he opened fire with the chain gun until he jumped off and drew his blade as he brought it down an arm of the Elite Zealot, the weakened shields failing as his sword cut it off without an issue. The Japanese Centurion commando as he quickly drew out his GD-18L SMG and opened fire on another of the Elites as it forced him back with a charged shot from a Plasma pistol which it quickly drew out. One of the Spartan IVs then draw out an M45 shotgun, but had 36 round drum that was loaded into the weapon. He then boosted forward and fired the shotgun, however it was a fully automatic shotgun was it continually blasted away at the closest Elite as it quickly brought down the alien's shields. The Sangheili tried to counter up with a sword swing, but the Spartan IV rolled to the side and continued to blast at it turning its body into a bloody mulch after a few more rounds. Kaze then continued to clash with the wounded Sangheili as he then slammed the alien with the pommel of his sword then followed up with a slash on its neck, decapitating it. He then fired his GD-18L SMG at the last Elite Zealot who was continuing to clash with the other Spartan IV, giving the Spartan to charge and shoulder ram into the alien and knock it on its back. Before it could get back up, the Spartan IV slashed at the alien, bringing down the shields before he finished it off with a stab through the head.

Kaze then charged at another Elite using an energy sword as he quickly slid under the alien's attack as he slashed at its legs as he was draining the shields. The two clashed as he then quickly parried another slash from the Sangheili as he then followed up with a stab into its leg and then a spin kick to the head which caused it to stagger back. The Sangheili then tossed a plasma grenade which did almost stick to the supersoldier but Kaze saw it stick to a rock which he quickly tossed at the alien. It didn't blow up close to the alien, but the smokescreen allowed Kaze to toss an EMP grenade he set to explode within 3 seconds. The EMP took down the shields as Kaze used his boosters and stabbed his sword through the alien's head, dodging a stab from the Sangehili.

The UNSC Marines threw their fists in the air as they cheered at the sight of the Storm forces retreating while the Spartan IV Fireteam soon got onto a pair of Warthogs that had dropped onto the ground and headed off to start hitting the Covenant's flank.

"Yeah you bastards better run!" One of the Marines said aloud. Then, several more Pelicans arrived with more Lupus tanks, bringing the number up to 16 as they joined the main convoy as they pushed through the second barricade with the few remaining Covenant Storm forces being slaughtered. More medivac Pelicans flew in as they began to get those who were wounded as they were getting treatment for them as 16 more Broadswords then flew over head as they opened fire with their air to ground munitions on the main Covenant force as it continued the attack on the GDI base. However, more GDI fighters began to get out of the Support Crawler along with a flight of 6 Mk VI Orca gunships attacking the enemy forces.

Chief, Fred, and Casey then stopped to take a look at both groups fighters tearing apart the alien forces as Casey then turned on his comms as Cole called him.

 _"Phoenix to Havoc, I just got word that the Task Force was able to halt the enemy advance as the GST is firing its weapons to support the ground forces along with deploying a number of Typhoon gunships and a pair of Albatross heavy gunships to start beating back the Covenant forces. If the UNSC can hurry things along, they'll be able to cut off the Covenant main force thanks to a valley that they are pushing their ground forces through."_ Cole said from the images his forces could get.

"Good to hear Commander." Havoc said. "What about the casualties we've taken?"

 _"Nearly 90 dead and over 1,000 wounded. However, the Covenant have probably lost thousands of soldiers and a large chunk of their vehicles."_ Cole said, a clear hint of regret for those that were killed. _"Now though, we are beginning to get our heavy vehicles like our Mammoth tanks on the ground and are getting our Titan forces to be deployed. Once we get going, we'll be able to slam the Covenant down hard and hopefully win this fight early and get the hell out of here."_

"Agreed, are you and Admiral Raven now beginning to head over to the base?" Havoc said.

 _"Yes, our dropship is going to be escorted by 16 UNSC Katana fighters as make our way over. I'll be taking full command of the Task Force and we'll be planning for offensive actions against the Covenant with the UNSC soon enough."_ Cole said.

"Alright then, see you at the base Phoenix." Havoc said to his long time friend.

 _"Likewise, Phoenix out."_ Cole explained as he cut the call.

The Centurion then turned his head to Master Chief and spoke up, "Chief, Commander Masters said that our forces are starting to push back the Storm. He's highlighted an area where your forces could cut off the majority of the Covenant forces. You might want to send this to your commanding officers so that way they exploit this chance."

"Understood, Cortana prepare to receive and send the data."

"U-u-understood C-chief." Cortana said her voice broke up a little.

"Cortana?" John questioned.

"Havoc." Logan spoke to Casey using the internal speakers in the suit. "Cortana's Rampancy is showing again it could get worse unless we get her on board the _Olympus_ and gave the repair AI on it along with the scientists that specialize on fixing AI. I don't know why Chief wants to still have her with him, but we need to help out soon or she could end up causing an incident that could wound or kill Chief."

"Agreed, we'll have to ask Chief about it once we get to the base." Havoc said as he then had Logan send the information to Cortana who quickly sent it to the _Infinity_ and to Colonel Warner in his command Cougar. Warner received the data and began to issue orders so the UNSC can hopefully cut off the enemy forces before they can get away. The Spartans and the Centurions as they headed off once again to the GDI base.

* * *

 **Outside of Pathfinder Base, 20 minutes later**

"Holy hell, they set up that much of their base already?" Warner said as they approached the base of their new ally. "They pretty much finished the whole damn thing and are just repairing it!"

The whole of the UNSC forces that were able to finally see the GDI base were amazed to see such a large site already fully set up and close to fully operational. They could see whole platoons of Engineers using their repair beams to repair and heal damage caused by the Covenant attack. They then saw Battle Rigs appear as they were set up and had their 150mm Guardian cannons, 2 40 missile pods, or 4 105mm railgun cannons being set up for another Covenant attack.

"Colonel! Look at those tanks!" One of the UNSC Marines said as they pointed to a group of Mammoth tanks moving across the ground. They looked to be far more armed then that of even the latest Grizzly tank as they drove over the remains of the Covenant vehicles. behind them were Goliath IIs, Guardian IIs, and Armata IFV's along with a trio of Armadillo APCs behind them with Rhino heavy tanks on the flanks. These belonged to the 7th Armored Division of the GDI Army, veterans of battles from the Fourth Scrin War to the Sixth along with clashes against King Scorpion heavy tanks and Avatar mechs during Operation Thanatos, Neo Nod's offensive into the middle colonies during the war. The Predator company of the Division had landed first and were the ones that took on the Covenant's first waves.

The majority of the UNSC forces were now slamming into the flank of the Covenant forces as they could see the Cougars and a dozen Pelican gunships were flying above the Covenant forces along with a pair of Vulture heavy gunships with them firing their missiles and 50mm chain guns as the Covenant forces were getting torn apart. The Pelican gunship's Spartan Lasers were able to blast apart the remaining Covenant dropships that were beginning to take as many of their troops as possible.

"Looks like they're really gunning for the Covenant." One of the UNSC Marines said aloud. "Not that I can blame them, those damn zealots can't get the hint that the war is over and that their fighting a losing war."

"Pretty impressive sight is it not?" Havoc said as he walked up to Chief and the UNSC colonel. The Centurion was glad to see that their forces were able to block the alien forces and made them focus on them so much, that it allowed the UNSC outflank the remaining Storm forces. "Those tanks in the lead our the latest version of the Mammoth heavy tanks, more then capable of taking down any of the Covies best armored vehicles fro what the earlier combat has shown us. The Mk V is known by everyone in GDI as, and I quote "A moving, armed to the teeth, 100 ton "Fuck you" to the poor bastard on the receiving end of it.", so the Covies are in trouble."

Chief nodded at the Centurion's words. From what he could see, the Mammoth Tanks were more then capable of taking on the Grizzly IIs based on what Cortana could tell from the scans she was doing on them. He had to admit, their main guns could be more powerful then the Gauss cannons on the newer UNSC heavy tank plus the missile launchers could allow them to tackle enemy aircraft along with having LAAGs much like they were. What did catch both his and her eye though was that they were had energy shields on most of their vehicles, something that the UNSC themselves didn't have due to how expensive the tech was to install along with testing it out.

 _'This would have taken the Covenant by surprise during the war.'_ John thought. _'If we did get their shields on our tanks, we could have greatly slowed down the Covenant's advances on the ground._

"I'll say, that thing look similar in some ways to our own quad tracked tank, the M850 Grizzly II." Kyle said. "However, I can see that its bigger with both its guns and overall size. I bet it could tank a crap ton of enemy fire before going down."

Raider then walked up with his shotgun on his shoulder. "Well, you have both incredibly tough armor like our ships use and an energy shield you have sense of confidence in the your vehicle."

"You have energy shields on your tanks?" One of the UNSC Marines said with a look of shock on his face.

"Yep." Raider said. "When dealing with an enemy with as many force to toss at you like the Scrin, you need to make sure your people can take as many as possible before going down yourself."

"Damn you guys must have some serious change to pull that off man!" Another the UNSC Marines said aloud.

A group of GDI Marines approached Havoc, Raider and the respective teams as they saluted the supersoldiers. "Captain Havoc, Lt. Carter Anderson. Good to see you still in one piece sir. Sorry there isn't any left for you."

Havoc saluted back. "Thanks Lt., but I'm glad to see you boys managed to fight them off without our help."

"Thank you sir. We instilled in them the lesson that no one fucks with the Initiative." Lt. Anderson said. "Is Commander Masters going to join us?"

"He's well on his way from the UNSC flagship. We'll be working with the UNSC forces to try and get out of this planet." Havoc said to the GDI Marine Lt.

The man then took of his helmet, showing he had light brown skin, with dark brown eyes and hair with a bright smile on his face. "Guess the Commander didn't try to fly the dropship so he could join in on the fighting?"

"He could have, but since Admiral Raven was with him along with trying to give a good impression of our organization he had to stay behind. He probably is still upset at that and will want to take command as soon as he gets here." Havoc said with a smirk under his helmet.

"Sounds like you people have no problem ribbing your commanding officer." Warner said to the two.

"Those of us in Task Force Spearhead have known the Commander since the Sixth Scrin War know he really isn't as uptight as most other commanding officers." Lt. Anderson said while shrugging. "He thinks connecting and interacting with us will help him become a better leader since he knows what we can and can't do in certain situations and that which of us are the right soldier for the job."

"I see." Warner said as he then saw a man in his 40s approach him with the standard GDI officers uniform. He had couple of scars on him along with light brown hair and blue eyes.

"Captain Havoc, Captain Raider." The man said.

"Colonel Matthews." The supersoldiers of GDI said along with the GDI Marines.

Colonel Ryan Matthews, a veteran of the war with Neo Nod and the Fifth and Sixth Scrin War returned the salute. He then turned to face his UNSC counterpart. "You must be the UNSC officer that brought his boys to get our asses out of the fire."

Kyle nodded as he extended his hand. "Colonel Kyle Warner, UNSC Marine Corps.

The GDI Colonel took the hand and shook it. "Colonel Ryan Matthews, GDI Marine Corps."

"I have to admit Colonel from what I can see, your people did quite well in holding off the Covies." Kyle said as he observed the GDI soldiers removing the carcasses of the aliens and the remains of their vehicles, no doubt for them study up close and personal. "You pulled off something that many UNSC officers and soldiers would have paid to see back in during the war."

"Well, what you are seeing is the culmination of multiple wars against a powerful alien race and the battles against a new version of an old foe."

The UNSC and GDI personnel then looked to the sky as the Orca dropship descended near them as both Cole and Charles then walked out and approached the group of soldiers. He then saluted the GDI soldiers as he was walked up to the GDI Colonel. "Colonel Matthews, what is the status of the Task Force? Which units have forces on the ground right now and how soon can we get more of them within a short enough time span?"

"Commander, the 7th Armored Division starting to get its Heavy Tank Regiment on the ground due to the air being clear of the Covenant air forces. They'll be fully deployed within 10 minutes at the rate we are going. If we speed things up, we might be able to get the full Division down here and have the Heavy tank Regiment and infantry regiment of the 4th Armored down here along with one of their Artillery battalions." Matthews said. "We're also focusing on getting the 1st Marine Division, along with the 1st and 2nd Infantry Divisions along with the 18th Marine Division on the ground within 30 minutes and the 84th Assault Division within 15 minutes. Plus we are also setting down several airfields for at least 250 planes along with 120 gunships and 160 dropships for future incursions outside the base.

"Get the 7th Armored assembled down here with the 84th Assault Division, 4th Artillery Division, 10th Mechanized Division, 1st Infantry Division, and the 1st Marine Division within 30 minutes or less. I want as much information on the area around us and more on the planet ASAP. The Covenant wasted their knockout punch, so let's make sure ours count." Cole said as he began to issue orders. "I want the other Divisions to stay behind and protect the base until we get more of the Task Force down here. We have to go on the offensive with the Covenant still reeling from the losses they've taken."

"Understood sir, I'll get Captain Summers to prioritize those units." Matthews said as he contacted the captain of the _Valor._

Cole then turned to Warner and Chief. "I might need you two to come with me into the Mobile Command Vehicle, we to see about coordinating with forces you've sent and the _Infinity's_ reserves. Once we get inside, contact your ship and get both Captain Keyes and Commander Lasky on the line so we can plan out the best offensive plan we can make up."

Both UNSC officers looked at each other and nodded as Kyle then spoke to the young GDI commander. "Very well then Commander. This could also be a good time to see how your people operate."

"I've just gotten word that Captain Summers is getting the dropship and transport pilots moving double time for the units you wanted to deploy Commander." Matthews spoke up after ending the transmission. "We should be ready in less the 30 minutes."

"Well then," Cole said as he saw the MCV finally be assembled along with the other buildings that GDI bases would need along with a Defensive Crawler on the ground to bring in even more forces. "I believe it's time for us to talk about our offensive." He then started walking towards the MCV with Raven, Colonel Matthews, Lt. Anderson, and the UNSC personnel walked behind him.

Now, both sides were fully committed to the fight, to not only crash the Storm but to escape and rejoin their main forces.

* * *

 **Inside one of the main Forerunner** **structures**

Deep inside one of the major Forerunner buildings inside the planet, was a massive chamber with a large holding cell. It was placed there by a highly intelligent member of the Forerunner race, known as one of their greatest warriors and leaders. This very same being had fought against the ancestors of humanity when they had became a powerful empire along with advance their technology to the point where they could challenge his people. He had been among the key leaders in the fight against the Flood when they been spreading across the galaxy in force after taking over planet after planet.

In the efforts in fighting the parasite, he had created the Promethean Knights and the various machines that his forces possessed. They were fully autonomous beings that could negate the Flood corrupting them and possessed hard light weapons that could disintegrate the parasite to the point where none of their bio mass remained.

He could sense that humans were now on his planet, two different groups of them with ones armed with weapons that he was interested in due to them being more advanced then the humans of his galaxy. Of course, it didn't matter to him sense they were still the same race that had cost him his son all of those millennia ago during the far between the Ancient Humans and the Forerunners. He could also tell that the unknown human fleet were about to fire down on the planet, no doubt to try and brake through the armor protecting the planet. While he wasn't worried about them destroying the planet, he knew that Requiem wasn't as strong as it was back in his time so was possible they could get through the planet. Plus their was the fact the new human faction had all of their soldiers equipped with energy shields along with having armor that was able to allow them a good chance to fight against his minions.

He began to use his unique abilities to awaken his legions of Promethean robots knowing that they would fight against him in order to escape the planet. He was not concerned as he figured they wouldn't be able to defeat his forces and not even come close to defeating him in battle due to his telekinetic powers and the blades he had built into his armor.

 _'It is time for me to finish what I had started.'_ The Forerunner known as the Didact thought to himself as he waited for his chance to escape. Little did he realize that both groups would prove to be far more of a problem then the ancient warrior could have imagined.

* * *

 **Codex: M250 LMG**

Caliber: 7.62x51mm rounds

Rate of Fire: 750 to 900 rounds per minute

Feed System: 100, 200 round belts in ammo box

Bio: Originally a prototype machine gun made on Reach prior to the Covenant invasion of the planet, it proved effective against Covenant attacks, especially against Grunt swarms and helping to quickly bring down the energy shields of Elites and Brutes. Of course, like most UNSC weaponry made on the planet, was lost bring the fighting and had their files taken as part of the Cole Protocol. Thankfully, some the weapons had survived the glassing of the planet along with a number of ONI agents taking the files and blueprints and a number of them had been taken by Spartans and soldiers that used the weapons as they fled. It can be equipped with the UNSC smart scope used for their MA series assault rifles, 4x tactical scopes, red dot sights, and can have either a bipod or pistol grip for better handling and stabilization respectively. After the war, the UNSC began to mass produce the weapons that had been built back on Reach due to surviving weapons and blueprints so the UNSC Marines and Army could use them. The M250 LMG is used better in defensive actions and providing a steady rate of fire and being another alternative for UNSC troops to use besides the newer M739 SAW. ( **Think the machine gun used in a piece of artwork for Halo Reach with all of the Spartans moving forward into battle** )

* * *

 **Codex: M38 Cougar IFV**

Armament: 2 30mm bushmaster cannons or rapid fire Gauss cannons. M247T HMG or MG460 grenade launcher as a secondary weapon (Gauss machine gun for Cougars made by Hannibal Weapon Systems)

Armor: Titanium A3 armor for withstanding small arms fire along with anti vehicle weapons for a limited time

Speed: 60 mph (97 kph)

Variants: AT version: replaces secondary weapon position with 4 M79A1 120mm AT missiles for taking down heavier vehicles

AA version: Uses either 4 30mm Bushmaster cannons or 2 40mm 40 cannons with 4 M41A1 AA missile launchers

Command version: Regular Cougar with more communication equipment and with a holo-table to display the battlefield in real time along with a CIC center to direct units more effectively

Medivac version: Taking out passenger area of the vehicle with medical equipment with room and enough supplies for 20 wounded soldiers

Crew: 2 (driver and gunner) + 24-30 soldiers in passenger compartment

Bio: First deployed in small numbers during the opening battles of the Human-Covenant War, the Cougar IFV provided effective to taking out Covenant infantry and light vehicles. During the Battles of Harvest and Arcadia, the forces of the _Spirit of Fire_ were able to use them effectively in offensive attacks against both the alien forces and even the Flood. While it wasn't as produced as the Warthog LRV due to the UNSC prioritizing vehicles that could be produced quickly and cheaply, the small numbers of the IFV had proved effective on the battlefields where it was used either by Army troopers and Marines. After the War, Cougars and other UNSC APCs began to be mass produced for improving the combat effectiveness of their ground forces. The Cougar is mainly used by UNSC Armored Divisions, Mechanized Divisions, and QRFs but is still in enough numbers to be used by other Divisions.

* * *

 **Codex: M820 Lupus MBT**

Armament: 125mm Gauss cannon, 2 M247T HMGs (co-ax and one in the middle of the tank, latter can be replaced by a MG640 grenade launcher)

Armor: Titanium A3 armor with the ability to equip ERA blocks for more protection.

Crew: 2 (pilot and machine gunner)

Variants: M820A2 "Sun Devil": Based on the variant of the previous Scorpion tanks, it replaces the main cannon with 4 40mm chain guns for both infantry support and anti-aircraft missions

M820A3: Rocket launcher version with either 250mm regular or thermobaric warheads in a 40 barreled or 60 barreled missile pod for infantry support with 1 M247T HMG

ONI Lupus: Variant using stronger armor and uses new rounds that are being tested for future use

Hannibal Lupus: Variant made by Hannibal Weapon Systems with main cannon replaced with a DEW cannon and Gauss machine gun

Bio: The replacement of the venerable M808 series Scorpion tanks do to UNSC tank crews wanting more firepower to take on Covenant equivalents, the next generation of tank needed to be better protected against not only ballistic weapons, but also plasma and other energy weapons. Not only that, but due to improvements in the targeting systems the new tank can fire on enemy targets from a mile away while moving at 40 mph or at three miles away when standing still. It was able to take several Plasma mortar rounds from Wraith tanks and was able to take hits from its own cannon. The first few battles involving the new tank was during the recapture of the Sigma Octanus system, Covenant loyalists being taken aback by the new tank easily shrugging off their blasts and destroying Wraith tanks and having two to three tanks managing to take down Covenant Scarab walkers. The M820 will be the main MBT of both the Marines and the Army as the upgraded Scorpions will be used by Calvary Divisions as to be used for QRFs and for reinforcing UNSC units. ( **Think an armored up Scorpion with the turret in the center of the tank** )

* * *

 **Codex: M45A1 Assault Shotgun**

Caliber: 8 gauge Soellkraft shells

Rate of Fire: 320 rounds per minute

Feed System: 36 round drum or 20 round magazine

Bio: While the M90 and the M45 shotguns had proved to be effective against the Covenant and later the Flood, the UNSC figured they needed to have a weapon system that could allow them to blast them apart far more effectively. So it was decided to make assault versions of the shotguns in order better clear out enemies in close quarters firefights, especially when fighting in the corridors of ships or when dealing with multiple enemies rushing at the soldier. Both shotguns ended up getting this upgrade, allowing for UNSC soldiers to blast through groups of Covenant forces and for Spartans deployed on Flood containment missions which has allowed them deal with horde attacks. They use not only the usual buckshot shells, but also incendiary, explosive, solid slug, and even special plasma shells which have proven effective for dealing with certain opponents.

* * *

 **Alright everyone! Thanks for your patience, now I have finally gotten another chapter for this story out!**

 **I hope you guys enjoyed the different battles I've done for this chapter. These show off how both human groups end up fighting against the Covenant (with the UNSC showing off how their weapons are able to do damage to the Covenant would have never imagined during the Human-Covenant War and GDI showing they are more deadly on the ground then in space) and how the Spartans and Centurions could work together (though I will have more of that in the future if you are curious). Of course, with the Covenant getting their asses handed to them so thoroughly, we are going to have the Didact show up and throw a wrench into both group's escape plan.**

 **Also for Cole's flashback, it is to highlight how skilled he was during the battle that had given him those nightmares and flashbacks in the true beginning chapter along with his skill for leading soldiers and planning out attacks that would lead him to becoming a Commander. Also the appearance of John Price from Call of Duty in flashback? That's because I may add in characters form the CoD franchise into both GDI and Neo Nod for more characters if I have trouble coming up wit new OCs.**

 **Now for those wondering, I will soon include more ships and weapons for both sides. For the Covenant, I'm planning on bringing in a ship form the Sins of the Prophets Mod for Sins of a Solar Empire that I have to admit looks pretty cool plus new armor for both them and the Arbiter's faction. For the UNSC, I may have an idea from a Sci-Fi franchise about a ship they could use for anti-starfighter defense along with anti-munition defense. Plus I may create a unit that combines both GDI and UNSC tech together to make a powerful unit that can take on any force on the ground.**

 **Also for the UNSC, I may bring back a couple more Spartans to help the main UNSC and GDI forces, and a few certain Marines for when the half of the GDI taskforce that was separated from the rest of the group runs into another lost UNSC ship. For three of them, think a certain Halo miniseries that showed us some more sides to the Covenant War and the lore of the universe.**

 **Well I think that is all for right now. I may come to this and redo some lines if it seems I need to make corrections. As for my other stories, I'll be posting Remnant of Flames next along with making a challenge for crossovers with Command & Conquer or Ace Combat with other series so look out for that.**

 **Anyway, see ya later! Blazblade signing off!**

 **Edit (11/22/18): Decided to change around and include more dialogue and include a bit more for the Spartan IVs to do.**


	9. Chapter 8: Rise of the Forgotten

**Alright everyone, this is the next chapter in the Battle for Requiem.**

* * *

Chapter 8: Rise of the Forgotten

 **GDI Pathfinder Base, Main CIC inside the MCV**

"Impressive Commander." Colonel Warner said to the young GDI Commander as he looked around.

The personnel of the MCV were looking over the information that the UNSC had supplied GDI and were going over different points and weaknesses of the vehicles they exploit along with using any recon planes and drones flying around the vast area they were set up in. The stealth aircraft that were in the air were keeping track of the Covenant forces along with the few small Argos class stealth satellites that they were able to bring up. This allowed the personal in the MCV to begin making a full on holographic map of the surrounding area on the main display at the center of the room on a raised platform.

"Thank you Colonel, my people are veterans of a number of battles." Cole said with a small smile. "They know when to bring their best foot forward."

All of the GDI personal took a second to salute Cole when he was close enough and immediately returned to work as he walked up to the platform as he along with Warner, Colonel Matthews, Havoc, Raider, and Master Chief walked up to the platform. From what they could see, the Covenant were beginning to set up various defensive lines away from the GDI base now that the Covenant leaders must have seen how many forces they had lost in attacking the new human faction. They were now on the defensive from the over 4,500 thousand dead they had taken with little losses for GDI. Now they looked to fortifying the areas best suited for defense due to terrain with several of their Wraiths, Revenants, and other artillery units set up to provide supporting fire.

"Looks like the Covies have set up a number of positions to stall or slow down the advance of our forces." Cole said. "Considering the sheer number of heavy weapons that are set up, they must be determined to compensate for the manpower loss they've suffered." He then turned to the UNSC officers and spoke up. "How many forces can the Covenant send into battle with the ships they have?"

"CAS Assault Carriers can bring in over 20,000 enemies and the other ships could bring in over 3,000." Chief stated. "With any survivors form the armada, it could be even more so."

Now that GDI could see the area more clearly, they could see numerous wrecks of Covenant ships along with drop and escape pods scattered all over.

"The UNSC forces sent ahead are taking a another route through this mountainous area and headed towards the desert here. " Warner says while pointing at the green colored UNSC forces on the display. "The _Infinity_ is planning to send a Mammoth to this location once we've broken through to tackle the Kraken towers in this area."

"You also have tanks called Mammoths?" Matthews asked with a raised eyebrow.

"No, its more of a mobile base with the ability to being a Marine company with a number of weapons stored throughout it along with a number of heavy weapon emplacements and a Mini MAC cannon for tackling the strongest Covenant vehicles and even damaging their ships if they came down to where the gun's elevation can allow them to fire." Warner said.

"Sounds similar to our own MARV tanks, especially the ones armed with a Ion Cannon." Matthews said. He then turned to the display and had the map highlight the first line of defense the Covenant had set up. From what we could tell, they positioned several Burst Artillery towers and the usual regular artillery and anti-air towers to try and slow our advances along with a number of Plasma cannons and Shade Turrets. They seem to be focusing on using any advantage able in terms of defense in order to try to cause more casualties on our side.

"Looks like the Covenant have set up at least 3 Armored Regiments set up as a reserve with another in the UNSC sector." Matthews said. "How much in terms of support can your forces call upon?"

"We have a few Squadrons of Pelican gunships along with a Squadron of Vulture heavy gunships." Warner said. "Of course our Lupus tanks are capable of taking Covenant tanks on easily due to their heavy armor and armament. Plus add in the anti tank and support versions of the Lupus and our forces will be able to punch through." He then looked more closely at the terrain in front of the UNSC forces.

"Look there," he said to the GDI officers. What the UNSC Colonel was pointing at was a small ravine which looked to be wide enough for their tanks to cross through. From what they could see, it was wide enough for the Cougars to drive through to out flank any Covenant forces that could be thrown against the left flank of the UNSC forces. It could come in handy if they try to send a number of their forces and destroy any counterattack that they send against them.

"I see why you're focusing there and I agree with what you are planning." Cole said with a smirk. "How many of your vehicles are you sending through there?"

"About a dozen of the Cougars with AT missiles along with the accompanying infantry." Warner states. "I'm also going to have a few fighter and bomber squadrons pound away at the enemy positions to help soften them up along with a possible Archer missile strike. The gunships will join once they're finished dropping their payloads and begin to pound away at the enemy so my boys are able to get through with the least amount of losses."

"What about the heavy AA guns?" Matthews questioned. "Won't your planes be vulnerable due to the sheer amount of fire form the ground? Plus they should still have plenty of aircraft even though our squadrons shot down dozens upon dozens of them."

"I asked the _Infinity_ to launch a wild weasel strike on the Covenant positions." Warner said. "Once the force manages to break through, the ship will be firing Archer missiles to exploit the breakthrough combined with attacks from our gunships. We need to try and roll back the Covies and continue the pressure in order to prevent them from trying to reorganize."

Cole then took a look at the map for his forces as he saw that the Covenant were trying to move a number of their Scarab walkers to deal with his own heavy tanks along with positioning their heavy artillery into positions where they would be able to fire directly at their forces.

"We have enough artillery to blast through their lines and we have plenty of targeting drones flying above the area." Cole said as he then turned to some of the communications officers inside the base. "Order the 6th Artillery regiment's Juggernauts and Infernos to commence fire five minutes after the main advance begins. Have guided rounds to deal with the majority of their defenses and then switch to thermobaric rounds once the vanguard begins firing on the enemy."

"Yes sir." A male comms officer spoke up.

"Also, tell General O'Connor to deploy the Thors once they are fully ready." Cole said. "I want the Covenant forces to be torn apart and blasted back to the stone age."

"Roger that." The male officer responded.

"Thors?" Warner asked.

"Believe me when you see them in action, you'll be quite impressed." Cole said with a smile. He then brought up a list of the available squadrons that could be deployed as Wes then appeared on the holo display with his M1 rifle on his back.

"Wes, tell Razgriz, Aquila, Falco, Thunder, and Gale Squadrons to equip their planes with air to ground and air to air combat." Cole ordered. "And send out Battleaxe Squadron and their Akula ground attack fighters and have them fully loaded up."

"Roger that sir." Wes said while giving a salute to Cole as he sent the message to the squadrons in question.

"We have to move fast and hit hard." Cole said to the UNSC soldiers. "With the momentum on our side, we could be able to drive our main forces through the defenses. The armor units will have to punch through and keep from on the back foot to prevent them form trying to reorganize and launch a large scale counterattack

"Hey Cole," Wes said. "You might want to take a look at this."

The GDI AI then switched the image to a Forerunner structure that was several miles from the _Infinity_ that was a largely underground structure according to the data from the drones.

"I'm getting some kind of strange energy waves from this structure in particular." Wes said as he went over the data he was getting. "The energy seems to be in flux in very small increments. It's faint, but from what I can tell it had appeared some time after we had arrived."

"Any idea what could be in there?" Cole said with a raised eyebrow.

"No idea." Wes said with a shrug. "Maybe something in that Forerunner structure is turning on or activated when we showed up.

"He's right Chief, I-I-I was detecting the s-s-s-same r-r-readings." Cortana said through the speakers of John's helmet. Cole, Warner, and Matthews were becoming much more aware of Cortana's rampancy.

"Cortana, are you alright?" John questioned with a bit of concern in his voice.

"I"M FINE ALRIGHT!?" Cortana suddenly yelled, which caught a few of the GDI personal off guard who were close enough to the platform that made them stop.

"Cortana." Chief said with a sterner tone in his voice.

"I-I'm sorry Chief." Cortana said with shame in her voice.

"Master Chief." Cole said, staring directly into the visor of the Spartan's helmet. "Are you sure that Cortana will be fine during the mission? I understand that you and her have a very close partnership from what I can tell. But I can tell she is undergoing Rampancy right now isn't she?"

John nodded towards the GDI Commander who sighed at the response. "I'm going to guess that you still want her along since you don't feel like leaving her behind?"

"I understand your concern Commander Masters, you don't want anything to cause the mission to turn FUBAR and for this to put the lives of your former teammates in danger." Chief said in understanding. "However, Cortana is arguably the best AI to have when looking into Forerunner technology. Also, she is the only AI I have available in order to preform at my best."

Both Cole and Wes looked at each other for a second before Cole spoke up once again. "Well, if we do get out of this planet I may have a suggestion that could help her out if you and the UNSC are alright with it."

"How you mean commander?" Cortana inquired.

"Well, GDI also has to deal with Rampancy among AI and in fact we've learned how to remove the rampant coding and even find ways to lengthen the lifespan of AI to where the current generation can exist for up to 150 years." Cole spoke out. "The _Olympus_ actually has the best AI support and treatment center in the whole of the Initiative with special medical AI that could assist Cortana and remove the coding that's causing her state to begin breaking down."

"You... you can stop and remove rampancy from AI?" Cortana said through the speakers with awe in her voice. While the UNSC had come a long way in terms of AI advancement with the current generation of AI such as Roland being able to operate for 30 years prior to going rampant, they hadn't found any way to save an AI from rampancy. While they were still looking into one day having meta-stability be possible in order to have their AI live forever and make the impairment non existence.

"That's correct," Cole said. "We've developed advanced systems that can allow AI to live for even longer along with improving their capabilities even further. Of course, if you are still concerned about it, we could see about having Cortana's original creator overseeing the operation. So if you are still planning on having her during and even after this battle, consider it an option if you want to go through with it."

It made John wonder if it was too good to be true, that it was just something that could make him really see a chance to save Cortana. However, he knew that GDI were ahead of the UNSC in some areas after seeing the type of technology that they possess. If they really could fix Cortana, then he should see about doing so in order to save him.

"John, I'm not sure if they can pull it off either but if it is possible..." Cortana said, knowing full well that her Spartan would want to take that chance.

"I'll consider it Commander." Chief said.

Cole smiled at the Spartan and nodded. "Thank you Master Chief. I'll need you and Blue Team to go and investigate the structure alongside Fireteam Praetorian. In case something is inside, we'll need our best soldiers to stop it. Colonel Warner, can you allow for the Spartans to go with my Centurions to investigate?"

Warner thought over what the young GDI Commander had said. While the UNSC had experience with the Forerunners and the technology they possessed, it was strange how one of the structure suddenly had those energy waves show up when they did. They recalled the war they lost against the Flood which did lead to the creation of the Halo rings to finally stop the alien parasite by destroying all organic life in order to cut the Flood off from the food source they needed to keep growing. It could be possible that the structure held Flood lifeforms that could escape and they would have to keep them form escaping and causing something much like when the Flood showed up on High Charity.

However, it could possible that Requiem could have special weapons and technologies that the Forerunners had made in order to counter the Flood or other enemies that the Forerunners would have had. If they had other weapons then what they had found from the Sentinels and other robots, then it's vital that they find them first before the Covenant so they can't use whatever weapons are in there against both human factions. The UNSC knew full well how powerful that Forerunner weapons were and if they had other weapons that were just as effective, then the Covenant could get enough firepower to really give the UNSC and GDI a serious problem.

The UNSC veteran then turned to Master Chief and spoke up. "Chief, have Blue Team go with the Centurions to investigate that structure. If there are weapons in here, we need to prevent the Covenant from getting them first and using them against us."

"Understood Colonel." Chief said.

"I'll call Praetorian to get their gear and ammo." Wes said. "I'll also see about deploying a few gunships so they can be a standby in case both teams need more firepower."

"Get to it Wes." Cole said as he looked to the men around him while smiling. "Let's get to work."

* * *

 **Captain Alan Brooks**

 **UNSC 203rd Armored Battalion, 68th Armored Division**

The 25 year old veteran of the Human-Covenant War couldn't help but fell secure inside the strong Titanium A3 plating of the Lupus tank. Compared to the Scorpion tank, it was like comparing the First Generation of Main Battle Tanks to the ones of the early 21st Century. He could easily punch through Wraith mortar tanks with ease along wit better dealing with Scarab walkers that would make past UNSC tankers filled with Dread. Now though, he could stand up to those weapons of war with more confidence then his predecessors.

His crew's tank, _Bulldog_ , was with the lead tank platoon of four alongside the other 56 tanks of the whole battalion. Their job was to punch a hole in the Covenant defensive line and storm out into the nearby open areas of the desert. They would also try make the enemy bleed its numbers even more and further weaken the Covenant's presence on Requiem. They were joined by 36 Cougar IFVs, 40 M650 Mastodon APCs, and 24 Kodiak APCs with the accompanying Marines. In terms of support 24 Wolverine Mk II AA vehicles and 24 Warthogs. Over 1,200 Marines were part of the advance force with more incoming via Pelicans and more IFVs.

Flying forward of the UNSC forces were a flight of Sabres which had been configured to preform Wild Weasel missions. This version of the Sabre, the YSS-100G was a two seater version with more advanced sensors and electronics which would allow the fighter to jam Covenant sensors and allow them to get close to the enemy AA weapons. The Covenant prepared to fire, however the Sabre Gs activated their jamming systems and caused the guns to lose accuracy when they tried to open fire. The Sabres released 4 each of the new ASGM-800 HARM missiles which impacted the Covenant sensor arrays and left a large enough hole for the main strike force along with hitting a number of the guns that had such sensors to guide them.

UNSC Longswords, Broadswords, and even Katanas flew on with Shortsword bombers coming in on attack runs in order to help weaken their defenses. The fighter aircraft launched AGMs and fired at the heavy artillery and heavy anti air cannons to allow the heavy bombers to move in. Bomb leaden Longswords then released guided bombs onto the forward positions of the Covenant, taking out a number of plasma turrets along with Mortar, normal and Flak Shade turrets. AA fire blasted towards the UNSC aircraft as the pilots flew through the storm of AA fire as more of the enemy's defenses are taken out as a few UNSC planes take damage from the fire before the Shortswords dropped their heavy payloads. The weakened AA defenses were able to damage a number of the planes and shoot down a couple of the large aircraft, but the majority dropped their payloads and leveled several defensive positions. Although some Covenant fighters such as the Banshee Interceptors and Seraph fighters managed to get up and intercepted the UNSC, the Katanas, Broadswords, and fighter Longswords attacked the incoming Covenant fighters. The UNSC fighters once more proved to be more powerful then the Covenant's as more of the the latter were shot down.

The ground in front of the UNSC explodes as more of the aliens are blown to pieces as a couple of Longswords and a Sabre were shot down as the pilots ejected.

He then contacts the other tanks in his platoon. "Alright Sledgehammer, looks like we're going to be the first hammer blow for this offensive. Keep your eyes on a swivel and load up AP. Be ready to unload every weapon on the enemy once we close the distance. Time we show the Covies how real armored warfare is fought."

 _"Sledgehammer 1-2, roger that."_

 _"Sledgehammer 1-3, ready to rumble."_

 _"Sledgehammer 1-4, time to ax off some more Covies."_

Alan then looked through his sights at the incoming Covenant defensive positions. He could see the aliens rushing to their damaged defenses as they began to aim down their remaining weapons at the advancing UNSC forces. Moving forward were 16 Wraith tanks who were beginning to open fire on the UNSC force along with the heavy cannons that the aliens had set up. Plasma rounds began to fly towards the UNSC forces as the tanks began to maneuver to avoid a direct hit on either the body or the tracks. Some of the rounds impacted, but the tougher armor of the Lupus tanks were able to absorb the damage to the shots. It was a clear sign of how far the UNSC had come since the end of the war with the newer tanks being able to take a few rounds of fire form their own cannons, Spartan Lasers, AGMs from aircraft, and of course Plasma mortar rounds.

"Fire main guns! Let them have it!"

The four tanks of his unit opened fire as the 125mm slugs launched forward at hyperspeed as the four targets exploded. The two four tank units on their flanks then fired several HE rounds which begin tearing more into the defenses, turning weapons and aliens into pieces as the Covenant hunkered down form the incoming fire. The other tanks began to open fire as well as a single tank was hit by another plasma mortar round and was able to take the impact as the machine gunner inside the tank was able to fire back with his MG640 grenade launcher and fired a stream of rounds at a pair of Ghosts that tried to rush past the tanks and attack the APCs.

16 of the Cougars which had AT missiles fired off two missiles each and impacted both Wraith tanks and 10 Spectres that had moved up to give supporting fire and took down a Warthog that was a dozen meters from the left most tank in Brooks's platoon.

Then, a number of Locus walkers popped up from behind the few hills that were in front of the UNSC forces as the rear platoon of tanks were able to react fast enough to take out four of the ambush walkers out. Several of them were able to fire upon several Warthogs, taking out half a dozen before a group of Gauss Hogs fired and took down five of them before more of the UNSC opened fire. While half of them where able to get behind cover, the other half where quickly destroyed.

Alan's motion sensors then alerted him to an incoming group of Revenants that were trying to outflank the advancing tanks. "Enemies at our nine o'clock! Turn and load HEAT rounds!" He yelled.

Brooks's tank turned it turret to the side and opened fire with the co ax 12.7mm while the gunner in his tank, Corporal Wyatt Woodward turned his MG640 at the incoming enemy forces as they closed the distance. The UNSC IFVs close to the tanks opened fire with a burst of 30mm and 12.7mm fire, taking out a number of the hover vehicles as a few tanks were hit by a number of Plasma Mortar hits. Wyatt's grenade launcher sent out a few shots at the incoming vehicles, managing to take out two of the enemy vehicles and cause a third so much damage it crashed into a nearby rock.

The following UNSC vehicles opened up on the approaching Revenants, destroying the remaining light attack vehicles as the infantry disembarked and advanced both alongside and behind the armored vehicles. From the MA5D to the newer rocket launchers and Spartan Lasers, they began laying down plenty of fire that forced the Covenant to take pot shots at the enemy. One Marine armed with the M41A1 rocket launcher locked on a pair of Hunters that were charging out from the small bluffs that they were behind to allow them to get closer and fired two missiles at the one that was closet to a Warthog they were about to fire at and the last one at the other Hunter. The missiles quickly crossed the battlefield and slammed into the large aliens as the first one went down and the other was stunned by the blast which allowed a Gauss hog to fire and blast its head off.

The Covenant forces were beginning to fear the approaching UNSC tanks as they took a number of their shots and still kept going, destroying at least 7 more Wraiths as reinforcements continued to pour in to try and slow the advance. Warthogs armed with Gauss cannons and rocket launchers rushed forward and opened fire, the Gauss rounds blasting the plasma cannons and anti-infantry Shade turrets and the rockets began to blast at the defenses the Covenant were firing back from as more forces jumped into the trenches.

Suddenly, one of the tanks on the left of the UNSC formation was struck by a heavy Covenant artillery blast and lost its tracks as it came to a halt as another Plasma mortar round impacted a Mastodon APC, destroying the vehicles and nearly killing all of the troops inside. A few of the Marines with the energy shields on them, they were able to survive a few direct hits, including two from a Jackal sniper with the Covenant Carbine before it was taken out by another Marine with the M392 DMR with a headshot.

"Firestorm 1-1, this is Sledgehammer 1-1. Request fire mission on Covenant position." Alan spoke into the comms. "grid fire by two degrees north. Fire for effect!"

 _"Roger Sledgehammer 1-1, firing mission in 5 seconds."_ Firestorm 1-1 responded.

Traveling with the Cougar IFVs and Mastodon APCs were 12 of a new UNSC MLRS system that was a variant of the Lupus Tank. During the Human Covenant War, the Scorpion's MLRS variant, the M808B3, proved to be ineffective against Covenant forces. Only skilled commanders were able to use them effectively in anti-infantry roles and when grouping enough of them against enemy positions. The MLRS based on the Lupus, the M820B3 Calliope (named after the famous multi rocket platform of the Sherman tank from WW2) used more powerful 250mm rockets that were proven to destroy Covenant defenses and even were able to damage Scarab walkers.

The Calliopes fired 20 each of their 40 rockets into the air as the guided warheads flew over the forward tanks and slammed into the Covenant positions.

Another group for 12 Pelicans flew in and dropped of the UNSC's latest mechs, the HRUNTING/YGGDRASIL Mark IX Mantis. The two legged walkers were along the few newer vehicles in the UNSC arsenal that had energy shields much like the Spartan Mjolnir armor. The walkers moved forward as they unleashed their quad rockets at a incoming group of Revenants and Ghosts, with several of said missiles either completely destroying or bald damaging the vehicles. Their 20mm chainguns tore into the hordes of Grunts and Jackals rushing towards the infantry as their long legs helped them move fast across the ground.

Then approaching alongside the infantry to the Captain was a pair of vehicles that Brooks knew would tear apart the advancing Covenant infantry. They were the now famous M821 Ripsaw close support vehicles. The turrets of the support vehicles with their deadly 20mm Gatling guns began to be pointed towards the waves of Grunts and Hunters heading for the advancing UNSC Marines in which two platoons had opened fire on. The Gatling guns tore through the smaller aliens along with breaking apart the armor of the worm constructs as they splattered across the ground and even covered some of the Grunts.

A few Marines equipped with the M319 and M32 grenade launchers fired upon the remaining Covenant forces in the trenches as the HE rounds blasted apart the Grunts, Jackals, and Skirmishers and the former's users used the EMP function to drain the shields of the few Elites firing away at the Marines with their Plasma Repeaters and Plasma Rifles in duel wield as a couple of their fellow Marines fell to their fire. This allowed a few Marines armed with M739 SAWs to fire at the split-lips, taking their shields down and tearing into their bodies.

A pair of Marines with M41A1s opened fire on an advancing Hunter, the two shots taking down the large alien before they had to dodge a strafing run from a pair of Banshees. They then got off a pair of Fuel Rod Cannon shots which took out a Mastodon APC, but not before the M19 AA Gatling gun was able to damage the left wing of the lead Covenant ground attack aircraft. The rocket launcher equipped Marines then targeted the flying craft and took them down with a single missile each.

Another squad of Marines advanced on a Covenant plasma cannon emplacement as one armed with a SAW fired the weapon to suppress the position as two other Marines tossed two frag grenades into the position which killed all of the aliens. Two other Marines in the squad fired upon a group of Jackals armed with DMRs as they were able to take out three of them before they wounded a pair of their squadmates. However, a nearby Cougar opened fire on the Jackals, killing three more of them as the rest retreated. A nearby medic rushed to the wounded Marines as two of the other members of the Squad fired a 40mm smart airburst grenade from their MA5Ds at a group of Grunts with the two at the front trying to suicide charge the squad. The rounds exploded overhead, which killed the front two Grunts which dropped their plasma grenades in front of the other Grunts that were still charging at the squad. They didn't see grenades until they exploded, killing the rest of the group as the remaining ones were gunned down.

Then, a trio of Hunters then appeared as they opened fire on a nearby duo of Kodiak APCs, badly damaging them as a duo of Ghosts then rushed a platoon of Marines. The lead one knocked away a pair of Marines as they were sent flying, barely surviving due to the upgraded armor's energy shields and the tougher construction. One of the Marines in the platoon aimed down a Spartan Laser at the lead Hunter as it fired at another pair of Marines and killed them before the ruby red beam killed the large enemy. Some Marines fired 40mm to 30mm smart grenades at the other two, breaking apart their armor and tearing apart some of the worms before another Marine armed with an M41A1 missile launcher finished off the enemy.

A duo of Wraith tanks appeared as they fired on a Cougar IFV each, badly damaging one and taking out the the left side wheels of the other. A trio of nearby Gauss Hogs drove up to the damaged vehicles and opened fire on the the enemy hover tanks, damaging the tanks with the hypersonic slugs fired from the weapon. Then a rocket Hog swung by and let loose a volley of rockets at the damaged tanks, taking out the closest one as the other pulled back as best as it could. However it was taken out by a Marine lugging a Spartan Laser who had gotten a lucky shot off.

Then, from the left side of the large clearing came a force of 24 Wraith tanks along with a Scarab walker. The large walker opened fire with its main laser cannon at a damaged Lupus tank, taking out the powerful tank as 10 Wraith tanks which were at the lead of the force opened fire upon two Lupus tanks, four Cougars, and two Mastodons. The tanks were badly damaged and the crew had abandon them, with three of the Cougars being taken out and the last one being seriously damaged and the Mastodons were taken out (of course the the latter two vehicles had their infantry out on the field before this).

However, half a dozen missiles flew from the right side of the Covenant assault force and slammed into the Wraiths that were the closest to where the missiles appeared as well as several streams of 30mm rounds flying at the other Wraiths. The Cougars that used the side pass that GDI was able to find used the chance to deal damage to the enemy force that was sent to attack their comrades. Then coming alongside the flanking Cougars were the Marines that were sent with them opened fire with heavy weaponry such as Spartan Lasers, M41s, M41A1s, and ARC-920 railguns, all of which had heavy damage and even destroyed the majority of the Wraiths along with damaging the Scarab walker. Then the Lupus tanks that were the closest to the rear of the UNSC Vanguard opened fire on the joints of the long legs of the large walker. Eventually, other UNSC vehicles then focused fire on the powerful walker and eventually brought it down as the rounds tore off its legs and forced it to fall forward and kept getting blasted until it was fully destroyed.

However, as the Covenant tried to pull back, Brooks's platoon pushed forward and blasted apart with more HE rounds on Elites that fired at his group with Fuel Rod Cannons and Plasma Launchers that further damaged his platoon until they were out range and suppressed by the sheer amount of UNSC infantry and vehicle fire.

 _"All units, Infinity is launching an Archer missile strike."_ An operator from the _Infinity_ said through the comms of both the vehicles and soldiers. _"Remain outside the blast zone and expect friendly gunships 2 mikes after the strike."_

"Alright Sledgehammer, slow it down but keep firing on the enemy." Brooks told his platoon.

 _"Sir!"_ Sledgehammer 1-2 reported. _"Incoming Scarab, 12 o'clock front!"_

Brooks looked ahead as the incoming walker opened fire with it main weapon at the platoon as the tanks drove out of the way just in time and the infantry took to cover from the secondary weapons. It soon was turning to face its main weapon upon a group of Mastodons that were moving up to support more of their forces. The secondary weapons were already firing as a number of shots hit the UNSC APCs, destroying up to four of them and badly damaging five others.

"Load AP and take down that Bastard!" Brooks yelled as he fired a round at the forward left leg, damaging the joint area. His other tankers opened fire as the Scarab moved as fast as they could before the walker tore into the lighter vehicles it was aiming at. Then came fire from a dozen Rhino artillery pieces which helped to damage their armor and weapons, helping the tankers to finally bring down the large walker. They soon fired upon any Covenant soldiers which were supporting the vehicles advance, turning them into bloody paste or mist form the sheer amount of fire coming from their weapons.

Then, a screaming sound was heard by the UNSC and Covenant forces as dozens of Archer missiles slammed into the Covenant rear guard and cracked the armor of the large walker as the Lupus tank Battalion blasted it apart, the worms holding the large machine together being blasted to bloody smithereens.

 _"All units, this is Colonel Warner."_ Kyle spoke through to the UNSC Vanguard. _"Gunship support is heading your way. Continue the advance and drive the Covies down."_

"You heard the man!" Brooks said aloud. "Keep pushing!"

* * *

 **Colonel Noah Wilson**

 **GDI 84th Armor Division, 204th Armored** **Regiment**

 _'Ah, nothing's more enjoyable then seeing our Mammoth tanks run down the enemy and blast holes through them.'_ The 40 year old Colonel thought to himself.

The first 24 Mammoth Mk Vs were advancing alongside 30 Goliath II APCs, 24 Armata IFVs, and 30 various Guardian II variants. All told, the infantry supporting them numbered nearly a thousand soldiers. The long range missiles on the heavy tanks flew forward and impacted the forward Covenant positions as the heavy tank's energy shields took a number of shots from the Covenant's heavy weapons. Once the cannons were ready, they fired off their 200mm rounds into the defenses as half a dozen of the rounds slammed into the heavy cannons that were positioned to fire directly at the advancing forces.

The Covenant were stunned by the appearance of energy shields on the new humans vehicles. Their cannons and Plasma Mortars were stopped by the shields as they were blasted apart by the long range weapons of GDI and the airburst rounds were able to blast apart the Covenant soldiers that were positioned on the cliffs and on in areas that were perfect for snipers along with the ones in trenches.

Then, several dozen 250mm rounds flew through the air from 36 Juggernaut artillery walkers and a couple hundred missiles from several Inferno MLRS impacted the Covenant lines as both infantry and weaponry flew through the air along with limbs and parts of weapons along with the ground. Some of the Grunts screamed at how hopeless the situation was for them, others ran around in place screaming at how hopeless it was for them until they were smacked away or hit by the Elites they were with and insulted by how fast they lost their courage.

By the end of the bombardment. several hundred Covenant soldiers were killed and a number of their defensive emplacements were destroyed as the main GDI force moved up. The Mammoths moved upward as all of their weapons fired upon the enemy positions, the energy shields stopping the shots from the Covenant's heavier weaponry. A number of the APCs and IFVs then let out their combat infantry from regular Army and Marines to even Zone Troopers and Heavy Troopers which unloaded their weaponry without hesitation on the remaining aliens. The heavy railguns of the Zone Troopers punched through even the armor of the Hunters and blasted both the energy shield and armor of the Elites like they were tissue paper. Heavy troopers armed with the M5 Gatling gun laid down streams of fire on charging Grunts and Hunters, the latter getting the areas the weren't covered by their armor getting turned into mulch and finished off by Javelin missile launchers.

When a group of 32 Revenants flew towards the group of heavy tanks, the Mammoths whose turrets were the closest to the direction the enemy was coming and fired the turret mounted 30mm LAAGs and turned a good number of the vehicles into Swiss cheese along with a couple of Longbow missiles. While a few Mammoths did lose their shields from focused down fire from the Covenant positions, their heavy armor absorbed the few Plasma mortar shots from the Revenant attack group, much to the surprise of said group. Then Armata IFVs appeared and tore into the remaining vehicles with their autocannons and missiles, turning all but six of them into scrap metal before Guardian II IFVs pulled up and finished off the unit with their autocannons.

Then, on the scanners inside the Mammoth, Noah was able to find a sizable number of hostiles moving over the more rocky and hilly terrain to the northwest of the advancing GDI forces. To Noah's surprise, they happened to be Scarab walkers numbering around 12 or so along with 36 Wraith tanks. This response was expected to a degree by Cole, since it was abundantly clear to the Covenant that their best equipment would be the best bet against the new human faction due to the heavy losses they took after the failed assault at Pathfinder base. Noah also excepted this type of response and made his next move to counter the enemy attack.

"B Company! Enemy advancing at ten o'clock! Intercept! Lion Squadron move up to assist!" Noah yelled into his comms as another group of 24 Mammoths rush forward to attack the Scarab walkers. The heavy firepower of the tanks were able to deal a large amount of damage to the Covenant walkers, including one of the Mammoths that fired a 200mm round into the main Plasma cannon of the Scarab, which caused an internal explosion. Another of the Mammoths, this one a G version of the tank fired their Gauss cannons into two Wraith tanks taking them out instantly.

Then pulling up to the advancing Mammoth tanks were a group of 12 Predator Mk V tanks, firing their 150mm cannons at the incoming Wraith tanks. While one Scarab was able to overwhelm the shielding of a Mammoth tank, its heavy armor was able to absorb the blow, albeit it would be slowed down due to the damage.

A group of Zone Troopers got out one of the Guardian II APCs and blasted forward via their Jump Packs which launched themselves forward. They opened fire with their railguns at a trio of Revenents as both the 25mm and 40mm slugs blasted through the light armor of the speedy hover vehicles. Four of the Zonies were equipped with a 50 cal version of the GD-16 Assault Rifle and opened fire on the pilots of a couple of the Revenant drivers while one of them used the underbarrel grenade launcher to fire a guided round at a nearby Ghost, causing it to explode. Another pair of Zone Troopers wit the GD-19 Railguns fired upon a trio of incoming Ghosts as they easily took out two of them without an issue. The last one however, activated its booster and went to ram a few Marines who were firing upon a Covenant trenchline. One of the Zone Troopers however, used their jet pack to move across the ground and shoulder charged into the Ghost, causing heavy damage and knocked it into the air.

"Hell yeah! That was awesome!" One of the Marines yelled as he fired his GD-15 LMG at a charging Elite who was wielding an Energy Sword as he rushed towards the group of GDI soldiers. However, from the air came a regular Commando who boosted downward and slammed his fist into the head of the tall alien. This Commando had a visor that resembled the one of the M400 but had three while lines sicking out below the visor much like for a full skull. It had the shoulders of the prototype Venom Combat Armor that were being built in its large size and in normal size for future use for the Steel Talons Elite Infantry and had thicker gauntlets that concealed fusion claws for close combat. The leg armor was similar in looks to the armor of Second Tiberium War Infantry (The armor of GDI Medium Infantry in the Tiberium Eclipse Mod for Unreal Tournament) but had space for two fusion axes on the upper thighs below his two GD-18L pistols that had been customized to act more like automatic pistols with larger energy packs. He also had on his body a new type of LMG called the Spitfire with a holo sight along with a Sidewinder SMR for tougher enemies that he would most likely encounter during this offensive.

Captain Jarrod Blackburn, better known as Razor was part of the same Commando Corps that Cole, Casey, and several Centurion Fireteams were in. While most of them had gone to being augmented super soldiers, he chose to say so that he could become higher in rank so he could later become of one main commanders of the Commando Branch. He still liked to joke around with those who he knew from back then and still liked to have matches with Havoc from time to time. He had been assigned as the leader of a platoon of Commandos in the 3rd Commando Regiment, who were known to act as elite shock troopers, quick reaction forces, and heavy support.

He then turned to the Marine squad behind him "Alright Marines, keep pushing forward and show these aliens how the Initiative fights!"

Using his jetpack, Jarrod flew over a group of Elites with two duel wielding Plasma Repeaters and a Zealot using a Plasma cannon that were firing on another squad of Marines, killing two of them and wounding four others. He drew his Sidewinder and fired several rounds at the aliens, taking out the energy shields of the Elites due to the explosive rounds as he then drew one of his fusion axes and slashed down into the head of one of the aliens. He then dodged an immediate stab from the other Elite as it tossed one of its Plasma Repeaters and quickly drew its Energy Swords and tried to stab the Commando.

Jarrod then blocked a follow up swing as the Mk III armor helped more strength against that of the alien as he then angled his blade against the plasma of the energy sword, redirecting it along with exposing the Elite and threw a haymaker which knocked it back a bit before he then drew his modified GD-18L and fired a burst of plasma bolts into its head before he jumped away from the Zealot firing a stream of plasma blasts at him. HE then put away his pistol and axe and brought out his Spitfire LMG and fired at the Zealot, using his jet pack to boost him across the ground. After a few bursts, the Zealot went down and Jarrod grabbed the Plasma grenades from the dead aliens as he took to the air once again.

He then switched out his magazine for one that was being produced for GDI soldiers to use against robots and vehicles. This was a magazine that carried Arc rounds, much like how the Titans had weapons that used the same ammunition. They could still pierce the armor of enemy infantry, but had the advantage in quickly draining the enemy's shields and slowing down their vehicles. Jarrod aimed down at a squad of Elites suppressing a platoon of GDI Marines with some of the aliens using Plasma cannons and Plasma launchers. He aimed down his LMG and fired upon the Elites taking down their shields quickly as he tossed a explosive disk at two of the Elites, the explosion killing both of them. The Elites with Plasma cannons fired at the Commando, getting a number of hits and draining Jarrod's shields down to 80% as he fired a burst at one of the Plasma Cannon Elites, killing it with three rounds to the head as he moved on an wounded another with a well aimed burst and caused it to lose their heavy weapon.

However, he was stuck by one Plasma launcher round and it exploded, causing him to hit the ground hard. He groaned from the pain but quickly got back up and tossed another disk at the Elites as the suppressed platoon was able to fire back, taking down the remaining Elites as the aliens tried to dodge as much as possible and did wound 12 of the Marines and killed 3 of them. Jarrod then pulled out his Sidewinder at a pair of Ghosts flying toward him, firing a number of rounds at the enemy vehicles, quickly taking them out.

Then, Jarrod saw two platoons of Rhino tanks pull up against a Covenant force that appeared with two Scarab walkers and half a dozen Locus walkers. Noah had brought up another unit in order to deal any forces that tried to outflank GDI. Three of the Rhinos were armed with the large 280mm railgun as they fired their slugs against large walkers and blasted off its armor. The others fired their twin 150mm cannons at the Wraith tanks and fired airburst rounds into groups of enemy infantry. Pulling up alongside the tanks were a group of 12 Goliath II APCs which fired their quad 20mm cannons into the retreating alien forces as they were pulling back and trying to slow down the GDI advance.

Jarrod then turned on his comms and spoke. "Phoenix this is Razor, how is the advance coming along?"

 _"Phoenix to Razor, the 1st Medium tank_ _Battalion of the 204th Armored Regiment is moving up to support the advance."_ Cole said. _"Continue to push up and have your platoon continue to move forward and start causing more mayhem behind their lines."_

"Understood sir, what about Fireteam Praetorian?" Jarrod questioned, knowing full well that Cole must have come up with a way for his old team to do something.

 _"They're heading to a structure alongside an Elite UNSC Spec Ops team of their best Commandos."_ Cole said to his old friend. _"We think that there maybe something in that structure that could hold something important that might have the potential to effect the battle if they had advanced weapons in there."_

Jarrod couldn't but roll his eyes at what Cole had said. "Guess that means I can get ahead of Havoc in terms of kills in this battle. In all serious though, tell him I said good luck with his mission."

 _"Very well, I'll set him and the others know. Good luck on your end Razor, Phoenix out."_ Cole said as he cut the comms.

Jarrod then took the air as he flew up to Colonel Wilson's tank as it opened fire on another Scarab tank, after it took several more Plasma mortar rounds due to its heavy armor and fired several more missiles at another group of Covenant artillery pieces. However, they had lost two Mammoth tanks, five Armata IFVs, and ten each of the Guardian IIs and Goliath IIs due to using concealed artillery cannons. However, GDI was still pushing hard and now several squadrons of Strike Orcas launching AGMs, dumb and guided rockets, and even dumb and guided bombs.

Noah's tank then fired another round off into a Wraith tank that was about to fire on an upturned Goliath II APC that had two Marines trapped under it and had two Zone Troopers help to get it off of them. Luckily, Noah's Mammoth get the shot off and it impacts before the Sangheili inside fires off the shot. Jarrod then lays down a long stream of fire that slows down a duo of Revenants that were harassing a group of Guardian II APCs, allowing a nearby duo of Rhino tanks to finish them off.

Jarrod looks to the side and sees several members of his fly ahead and fire their weapons at a number of Shade turrets and those armed with Javelin II missile launchers taking out a trio of a Hunters. Another Commando fired an EMP missile at a pair of the larger Elites who were wielding Plasma cannons, taking down their shields as GDI marksmen then took them down with GD-17 DMRs as several Orca gunships flew overhead and fired anti tank missiles at a couple of the Scarab AA walkers along with laser guided rockets into the secondary weapons positions of the walker.

The Commando couldn't help but smile under his helmet at the sight of Covenant forces getting down by their forces.

* * *

 **GDI Pathfinder Base**

"Damn, looks like the Covenant really are focusing down hard on stopping us." Warner said to the two GDI Officers.

Both Cole and Col. Matthews were in agreement at the sight. The Covenant's reserves were pushing up as the company of Scarabs were rushing at the GDI Mammoth tanks that were punching through the line along with more Wraith tanks and Locus walkers heading for the UNSC forces. The Covenant had led down a number of surprises for the advancing forces and did cause some damage in battle, but were getting more and more causalities for them as they were getting pushed back. However, they were starting to cause bot human factions losses as dozens of GDI and UNSC soldiers have been killed and hundreds had been wounded. It was a chance in tactics wiht Covenant focusing their fire on the vehicles to destroy them more quickly and were focusing on using more heavy weapons.

Cole then turned to Wes, his eyes showing that he was getting more serious and letting his mind go on autopilot as looking at the battlefield to find ways to further destroy the Covenant."Wes, I want our gunships up and heading to the battlezone ASAP. How many of them are fully ready?"

"I have four Orca gunship squadrons, four Ironside gunship squadrons, and more recently three Typhoon squadrons all set to go." Wes said. "They are mainly armed with air to ground munitions but have a couple of AA missiles in the off chance they are attacked by aircraft."

"I want three of those Orca squadrons, two of the Typhoon squadrons, and two of the Ironsides to be deployed to the frontlines." Cole said. "Send the remainder of them the east to come in a nail the Covenant from the side." He looked at the map and saw that the area the Covenant were pulling back towards and had reinforcements coming through had several mountains that would block their sight and would be under the Covenant's sensors, allowing the remaining gunship squadrons to fly through the geological formations and allow them to strike the forces in the flank.

"Understood. Also both Blue Team and Fireteam Praetorian have made it behind enemy lines are on their why to the compound." Wes said.

"Good, the sooner we know what exactly is in there the better." Cole said to his AI companion. He then turned to Colonel Warner and spoke up once again. "Colonel, how about your forces? What's their status?"

"My boys are pushing through just like your people are, however the Covies seem to be using more of their artillery that they set up in predetermined positions." Warner said as he could see the number artillery guns highlighted in red. "They also have been putting up more AA guns that the Spartan IVs I sent have been trying to take out. Luckily, with the deployment of the 95th Artillery Regiment and their Rhinos being guided by spotters, we'll making more time soon."

Cole then brought up the image of Blue Team and Fireteam Praetorian flying over the battlefield in Orca dropships as they covered ground while firing away at the few defenses there were. Soon enough, the dropships landed relatively close to the structure as they began to move out. Before long, they ran into a group of Skirmishers, quickly killing them before the enemy knew that they were there and moved up, sprinting towards the structure.

"Looks like both teams are proceeding well." Matthews commented. "At this rate, they maybe able to get inside the structure within a few minutes. They just have to cross this more molten area before they reach it and deal with whatever Covenant soldiers are there guarding it."

"Good, at this rate we maybe able to move in while the Covenant are dealing with our commando groups behind their lines and causing their reinforcements to be slowed down." Warner said. "The absolute last thing we need is them getting their act together and really throwing everything they have to stop us."

"What about your groups air support?" Cole questioned.

"I sent five squadrons of Pelican gunships to the front along with our heavier Vultures." Warner said. "They should be tearing up the Covenant right now."

* * *

 **UNSC Hammer Flight**

 **Cap. Marie Olsen**

Flying towards the UNSC forces as they began to break through the Covenant lines and push the Covenant counterattack back, a flight of 12 of the newer G79-TC/MA2 Pelican Gunship began getting into combat range of their weapons. They were part of a total of 36 Pelican gunships with 12 dropships behind them with 8 carrying one Lupus tank each and the remaining four being in Mantis walkers to support the infantry. While some Covenant Spirit and Phantom gunships were trying to support the forces as best as they could, the UNSC new Mk II Wolverine AA vehicles opened up with both AA missiles and their twin 30mm autocannons shooting down the incoming enemy aircraft. Not only that, but glowing green shells from the Rhinos and the Mk II versions of the SPHs began to impact the Covenant positions in front of the advance force.

Her co-pilot, First Lieutenant Ava Taylor looked over the targets from her station as she locked on several targets with the Anvil III missiles her gunship was equipped with. The newer missiles had improved warheads that were capable to better taking out enemy ground vehicles and were 20% faster then their predecessor. She fired off 12 of said missiles at a pack of 8 Revenants and 4 four Spectres, each missile taking out their targeted vehicle. She then had to dodge incoming fire from Covenant AA vehicles, a couple of rounds singeing the wing as Ava fired upon a trio of Hunters with the 70mm autocannon with HE rounds impacting the large aliens.

The 70mm autocannon on the aircraft then fired as Ava targeted a trio of Shade turrets, the HE rounds easily taking out the enemy weapons as Marie then fired off 4 scorpion missiles at two Wraith tanks, taking them out completely with two each.

"Got to admit, this is much more easy then Operation Cleanup huh?" Ava said with smirk under her helmet. She was referring to the operation where the UNSC had sent reinforcements to a joint Human-Sangheili colony that was being attacked by Covenant Loyalists. Her unit had taken 24% casualties due to surprise Covenant ambushes with both AA guns and hidden Covenant fighters. However, they were able to take out several enemy positions along with destroying the Covenant HQ as the main UNSC assault commence.

Another MA2 Pelican then flew nearby and let lose a storm of Locus missiles into a group of Spectres and Revenants that were firing on several groups of UNSC Marines. the small but hard hitting missiles taking them down. Then a flight of four Longswords flew overhead and dropped guided bombs onto more Covenant vehicles who were trying to cover the retreat.

Two of the Pelican gunships were hit by a surprise attack from Fuel Rod Cannons wielded by Elites that had decloaked fired upon them. Two more had been damaged as well along with two Lupus tanks being hit by several Plasma Launcher rounds at the tracks, causing them to lose their tracks but were driven back by Cougar IFVs pulling up and firing on them with their 30mm autocannons.

Suddenly, three Vulture gunships flew in from above as they unleashed autocannon fire and air to ground missiles. Taking out even more of the Covenant ground forces, including the Vultures firing their missiles at another Scarab walker, damaging it as their autocannons opened fire on the retreating Covenant units. However, Covenant fighters wee coming in and the forward Seraph and Banshee Fuel Rod Cannons fired at the UNSC forces while quickly pulling out of the attack runs before they could take heavy losses. However, the Wolverines and the UNSC Marines with missile launchers were able to inflect damage on the enemy flyers.

"Ava I'm going to have us go higher so we can take on some of the Covies flyboys." Marie said as she flew higher into the air.

"Got ya bastards!" Ava said as she opened fire on the Banshees with the 70mm autocannon, taking down several of the damaged Banshees as Marie had the 30mm chainguns fire upon more of the enemy flyers. While the Banshees were able to do damage with their plasma cannons, Marie was proving herself a skilled pilot by limiting as much of the damage as possible and dodging the Fuel Rod shots. Two more Pelican gunships flew in with 4 A2A missiles under their wings as fired off two missiles each and took out two Phantom gunships as their 70mm autocannons were able to bring down three Banshees and damaged two Spirits as their weapons were able to cause moderate damage to the friendly gunships.

Then both pilots turned to see a flight of Banshee Interceptors heading towards them. A pair of Pelican gunships flew in and fired A2A missiles at the covenant fighters as one of them was heavily damaged by their fire and forced the other to peel away as more Pelican gunships were damaged or shot down by the fast strike. However, those pilots that had more time responded quickly and in conjunction with Wolverines on the ground, shot down around 14 of the 36 Banshee Interceptors and damaged 16 more.

Ava was able to shoot down at least three of the interceptors with quick reflexes on the gun and Marie took down two more with the 30mm chainguns on the sides. Marie positioned their gunship over a Covenant AA Scarab as she was avoiding the larger plasma shots.

"Ava, you have a good shot for the M6?" Marie asked as she strained against both the fire from the AA walker and from a pair of Shade Turrets that were firing on her.

"Yeah, almost have full charge..." Ava said as she kept the Spartan Laser firmly on the walker as best as she could. Marie let loose 10 Anvil III missiles which took down the secondary weapons on the AA walker as they still kept flying around the enemy's fire as she fired her chainguns into the Shade Turrets, taking down two of them as her Pelican was getting more damaged. Ava kept a close eye as the weapon finished charging as she had the target over where the AA weapon was connected to the main body, the charge nearing completion as she avoided yet another incoming plasma round from said AA walker.

"GOTCHA!" Ava yelled with her British accent clear as day as the ruby red beam of the Spartan Laser hit where the weapon was connected and caused an explosion there. The weapon was now too damaged to fire as it let off a final shot at the damaged Pelican which Marie pulled hard to the right to avoid as three of her flight's gunships finished off the Walker by firing at its leg joints with their M6s and missiles, taking down the large war machine.

"How's that ya bloody Covies!?" Ava shouted in joy at the sight of it going down.

"Keep focused Ava, we still need to..." Marie said before her HUD alerted her to four incoming objects heading at her at high speed. "Shit! Seraph fighters incoming!" The gunship pilot knew that the Seraph fighters were the only ones the Covenant had that could go that fast. She then positioned her gunship in front with all of her guns pointed forward, ready to fire upon the Seraphs at the earliest possible chance and hopefully take one of them down before moving to avoid any retaliatory fire from the fast Covenant fighters.

However, much to the surprise of the two UNSC pilots, a group of four GDI Stormhawks flew nearby and attacked the flight of four Seraph fighters. Two of them went up and the other two went down, trying to catch the Covenant pilots in a pincer maneuver. The enemy fighters tried to move out of the way of the attack, but they were moved to wildly maneuver out of the way of the AA missiles from the Wolverine vehicles. This allowed the fighters to catch them in the trap and launch A2A missiles, taking down the Covenant's best known fighter.

 _"UNSC gunship group, this is Thunder 1. Phoenix ordered us to assist in giving your planes more protection and helping the advance on your end."_ Thunder 1 said to Marie.

The UNSC gunship pilot then responded. "Thunder 1 this is Hammer 1, thanks for the assistance."

 _"No problem, anything to help our new allies."_ Thunder 1 said. _"_ _Also might want to look to your right."_

Marie and Ava looked to right and were surprised to see the vanguard of the GDI forces moving though the same area as the UNSC. They stunned to see such large tanks in the front of the force along side dozens of heavy armored soldiers flying through the air and attacking the Covenant forces from above. Soon the whole UNSC force could see their new allies moving forward in a powerful display of combined arms as their fighters began to shoot down the Covenant aircraft in the span of a minute with them firing dozens of AA missiles at the surprised enemy force.

Then, Juggernaut artillery walkers then advanced behind their forces as four of them fire 12 250mm rounds into a group of Covenant artillery positions, destroying them with ease as more Rhino tanks then drove up and fired upon more charging Hunters as as they damaged and destroyed even more GDI vehicles before they had to pull back with half of the force taken out. Then several dozen missiles flew over head from Inferno MLRSs as they took down some more enemy units, but this time the Covenant were able to largely escape their fire and counter fired upon the GDI artillery units when some of the commanders had wised up and fired back. Some of the shots were able to damage several of GDI's mobile artillery and took out four Infernos and badly damaged two Juggernauts due to focusing fire down on them.

Typhoon gunships flew in a let loose their weaponry, blasting apart the Covenant Artillery as they dodged incoming fire form a group of Scarab AA walkers that been set up and had taken down three Orca gunships and badly damaged three more.

Then more UNSC Lupus tanks along with a Ripsaw drove up near the GDI forces and opened fire on a group of Elites using Fuel Rod Cannons and Plasma Launchers. The more agile Elites were able to get to cover quicker then the ones that were more bulky which ended up going down due to their mass slowing their movement. Then both GDI Rhino tanks and UNSC Lupus tanks fired at an incoming unit of Wraith tanks that blasted forward while firing their Plasma Mortars at several Marine units, wounding up to 20 and killing 16 from both groups together as the Plasma Cannon gunners fired upon more of the human soldiers and killed at least 10 more and wounding 24. Then a pair of Pelican gunships flew in a blasted the Wraiths at the same time as four Mammoth tanks fired the last of their missiles along firing one 200mm round each as well as 8 Lupus tanks firing at the Wraith group, quickly forcing them back as they began to use more hit and run type of attacks.

Some the UNSC Marines armed with Spartan Lasers damaged another Scarab walker as some were under fire from it. However, the Marines looked to see a group of Zone Troopers flew into the walkers and began to fight the different aliens on board the machines. They could see the power armor wearing troopers use plasma punch knives on Grunts as some hammerblows they made cut into the small aliens along with them tossing the smaller beings into Jackals and Elites as projectiles as they took fire from the taller aliens.

"Holy hell..." One UNSC Sargent said as he saw the GDI armored soldiers punching the Elites and Jackals to death or being stabbed in through out the body. While two of them had been knocked off due to the appearance of a Hunter, two of the Zone Troopers fired their 25mm slugs into the armor of the alien and break it apart as another fired their M64 Grenade Launcher into the large beast as the worms that made it up turned into yellow goop and bloody chunks. Then one of the Marines saw that a fireteam of GDI Marines were being fired upon by a group of the bulkier Elites and then he aimed down his ARC-920 Railgun and charged it up.

He then aimed it down as one of the GDI Marines used his fusion blade to block a strike from one of the Elites as the power armor they possessed helping them to hold their own. The Marine then fired off the round as it streaked through the air and nailed one of the Sangheili in the head, the impact being enough to bring down the shields and blast apart its head.

Then, one of his fellow Marines activated a special upgrade given to select UNSC Riflemen and a gift from the Covenant Separatists. He pushed a button on the side of his rifle which caused a small, glowing plasma bayonet that extended pass the barrel.

"Smith! Give me covering fire!" The Marine with the bayonet said as he turned to his comrade, Corporal Collin Smith, who had a M739 SAW. Smith nodded and began to fire upon the Elite that his friend was heading for along with two other Marines with a M90A1 Automatic shotgun for the first one and a MA5D assault rifle with a rifle grenade launcher and a M319 Individual Grenade Launcher. The Grenadier fired his M319 while holding down the trigger as it flew towards the Elites as he then let it go as it was close enough to badly weaken the shields of the enemy aliens as the GDI Marines were able to hold their own with the Elites before they were fired on by one that had an AA-24 shotgun which blasted apart the closet aliens along with another using his GDM-22 LMG and firing on a nearby group of Grunts that are aiming Fuel Rod Cannons at his squad.

Another of UNSC Marines, this one armed with a M392 DMR manages to place the reticle on one of the Grunts and begins to fire at them at the same time the GDI machine gunner is doing so, both killing at least three of them at the same time. Then the UNSC grenadier reloaded his grenade launcher and fired again that the group of Grunts, the round bouncing off the ground and exploding a yard above the Grunts, the concussive force and shrapnel wounding or completely killing the small aliens.

Then the UNSC Marine that moved forward with the bayonet, Private First Class Omar Terry fired his assault rifle off as he got closer to the last Elite which was jumping to the side to try and avoid fire from the GDI Marines while a group of Skirmishers distracted them. He drained the last of the shielding from the alien and stabbed into its exposed areas with his energy bayonet. Omar however was then grabbed and slammed into the ground by the Elite as it then tried to stomp on his back. He quickly rolled out of the way but was then stabbed by the energy sword, although it didn't hit any vital organs. He then quickly drew his combat knife and stabbed into its arm as its head was then blown off by one of the GDI Marines using a GD-15 laser rifle and killed the alien.

Omar, while he was still wounded saw another Elite approaching the GDI soldiers as he pulled out a grenade and yelled at them. "Get down!" He yelled as he tossed it as hard as he could. The GDI soldiers hit the deck as the grenade flew over head and bounced on the rock nearby as the Elite rolled to the right, with his energy shields taking the shrapnel. However, he then was fired upon by the GDI Marines when he tried to fire upon the human soldiers.

Omar laughed at seeing the alien killed before he yelled in pain at the stab he had gotten. One of the GDI Marines which had the symbol of a medic then rushed up to him and sprayed him with a Nanofoam dispenser, sealing up the wound while also giving the UNSC Marine NanoGel to cover up the burn and treat it.

"You holding up alright soldier?" The medic said with a Canadian accent.

"Yeah." Omar said. "I'm good. Thanks for helping me out pal."

His squad then ran over to him and another of the Marines then helped get him up. "How are ya brother?" The Marine, Private Second Class Sam Brown said as he put away his rifle.

"It stings like a bitch, but I think I'm good." Omar said. He then turned to the GDI Marines who were reloading there

"No problem there UNSC man." The GDI Sargent of the squad said while reloading his GD15 OICW. "Come on, don't want to be left behind by our forces unless you're an ass."

The UNSC Officer of Omar's squad walked up while pulling up his Spartan Laser on his shoulder. "The Initiative man is right, come boys." He turned to Omar and spoke up, "Terry, can you keep going?"

"Hell yes sir! No way I'm not missing this fight." Omar said with a look of determination on his face. He then stepped forward and realized that most of the pain had already been taken away, only causing him to hiss in pain and wince from what he could feel. He then quickly got his assault rifle and turned off his bayonet.

"I'll be damned, he's back on his feet like wasn't even hit." Another of the UNSC Marines said with surprise on his face.

Another of the Marines in his squad then spoke up to the GDI Marines. "What did you guys just give him?"

"Fight now, questions later Corporal Conti!" The UNSC Sargent spoke up. "Come on we have to move!"

The UNSC Marines did want to speak with the soldiers of the new human group, but knew that the battle takes more priority. They said their thanks and hurried over a a Mastodon APC that had just pulled up and was firing on a Jackal sniper position.

Marie then saw a number of GDI gunships fly close to where she was along with her flight that was regrouping around her. They were Orca gunships that were heavily armed with anti tank and anti personnel weapons as both groups moved forward and continued to fire away at the enemy. Then, more of the UNSC's newer model Longswords flew in and dropped guided bombs on the enemy as they flew past the AA defenses, their energy shields taking hits as they flew through enemy fire. Marie then fired four more missiles into a trio of Hunters, killing two of them and Ava finishing off the last one with a three round burst.

"Hammer 1 to GDI gunships, would you guys care for assistance in tackling the Covies?" Marie said with a grin behind her helmet. She was definitely impressed by how much firepower the new human group could bring to bear on the enemy forces. They had a lot more mobile artillery of different kinds available to them and she was amazed at seeing all of their infantry with energy shields along with the various weapons they had on hand.

 _"This is Anvil 1 to Hammer 1, lead the way UN girl."_ Anvil 1 responded, a smirk under his helmet forming as he fired off a long burst of 50mm rounds into a trio of Revenants that were firing onto a Rhino tank which was avoiding their mortar rounds. He had to admit that while they used mainly projectile weaponry, the UNSC had a good amount of skill with what they had and their ballistic weapons were on par with their own. Plus the lighter weight of their tanks made them more effective then the Predators in terms of mobility and along with the streamlining of the number of their vehicles along with being quite effective in their roles. Not only that, but he could see the experience of the veterans being clear as day as they were able to outfight and proved to be flexible in their approaches to combat.

Marie rolled her eyes behind her helmet as she then spoke to her flight. "Alright Hammer, follow my lead. Let's show GDI how the UNSC kills aliens."

Her flight all responded with "Yes Ma'ams," "Oorahs," and "Hell yeahs" as they shot forward into battle, now joined by five more Vultures and 16 of the G79-TC/MA1 gunships joining the fray.

* * *

 **With Blue Team and Fireteam Praetorian**

Both supersoldier teams had been sent ahead of the main GDI-UNSC force in order to cause chaos for their forces. They had already come up to a couple of enemy positions which the team's respective snipers were quickly taking out with headshots to the various alien forces while their teammates breezed through them as they dashed at high speed. Linda was leading ahead of Emily in terms of kills due to her better augmentations as well as her longer combat experience, but the GDI sniper was still keeping pace with the Lone Wolf Spartan.

Those among them at used under barrel grenade launchers quickly fired off a few rounds into groups of Grunts, Jackals, and even took down a single Hunter whose Fuel Rod Cannon shot they easily dodged as they dashed ahead.

Then a trio of Elites supported by four Hunters appeared and charged at the supersoldiers. Kelly then quickly took off, living up to her title as the fastest Spartan as she quickly drew her M8s and opened fire on the aliens as she easily dodged the incoming bolts of Plasma. She then quickly ran up to a rock and jumped off of it while putting her guns away, spinning akin to a plane doing an aileron roll in the air as she quickly let loose a pair of grenades. They then impacted the backs of the Hunters and exploded, wounded them as she then redrew her PDWs and fired away at them while they were still stunned and the rounds tore their backs apart before they went down as she landed. Jackal had also sprinted forward nearly a second after Kelly (seeing that the Storm would be distracted by the lightning fast Spartan) then quickly ran up a nearby large rock and used his jetpack to blast up into the air before unleashing a charged up blast from his GD-15 at one of the Hunters as they were still distracted by Kelly, allowing him to fire the shot into the back of another Hunter as Havoc and Chief rushed the wounded Hunter within seconds. They used the surrounding rocks to leap off of and once they saw the back of the large alien, fired their weapons into its back and killed it.

Ursa then charged ahead, using his boosters to slam into one of the Elites before it was able to get its plasma sword out, the force of the impact sending it flying as Kaze and Fred moved forward, dodging the Fuel Rod blasts from the remaining Hunter and the plasma bolts from the other two Elites. Fred easily kept his sight on the Elite and fired off a long burst as he kept dodging the attacks and once the Elite jumped to the side after its shields were brought down, he quickly threw one of his knives into its head, stabbing into its right eye before he fired off another burst which killed it.

At the same time, Kaze took out both of his GD-18Ls and fired at his Elite which pulled out another Plasma Repeater and tried to match the GDI Centurion. Kaze entered a state of focus as he then aimed both of his laser SMGs and fired into its head quickly bringing down as he then jumped into the air and re-positioned himself to intercept a pair of skirmishers that were moving up and firing their Needlers at him. Kaze quickly drew out his katana and deflected the incoming needles as he tossed an explosive disks at one of the Skirmishers, the force being enough to almost trip up the second one as he then drew his combat knife and tossed it at the alien, wounding it in the leg as he deflected more needles as he jumped towards him and cut off its head.

Ursa, who had then after ramming the Elite used jumped into the air and slammed his fusion ax down while using his boosters to increase his speed. The combined force of his strength and the boost in speed allowed him to impact the ground with a loud BOOM as his ax easily got through the alien's energy shields and cut through its upper half. Ursa then picked up its legs and tossed them at a trio of Skirmishers before he quickly got out his Gatling gun and opened fire on them, turning them into bloody pieces.

Jackal then saw on his sensors that there was movement close to him as his instincts kicked in dodged a stab from a Covenant energy sword as he quickly got out his fusion sword and slashed at a bulky Elite. The Elite's improved muscle mass was able to help it against the GDI Centurion's known augments, but Jackal moved more quickly and shot at areas that weren't covered by the alien's armor as he quickly slashed both the alien's legs before pivoting around a retaliation slash and stabbing the Elite in the throat.

Then another trio of Skirmishers charged forward to attack Castor but the Mutant of the Fireteam soon shot a blast of lighting at the fast opponents, causing them burn alive as they fell, burnt to a crisp.

This exchange had taken place within seconds of them spotting the aliens with the supersoldiers moving far too fast for the aliens to keep up with.

Havoc and the rest of Praetorian couldn't help but find a new level of respect for the Spartan IIs. They were able to react within milliseconds of a new opponent appearing along with the coordination they had. It made some of them wonder how long Blue Team had fought for during their war. Of course, Captain Keyes would be able to share some more of their history in combat once she finished sending them any information on the UNSC military that is mainly public knowledge and nothing that was incredibly secret or kept under wraps.

As for Blue Team, they could see that Praetorian was able to see what Kelly had done and had taken advantage of the moment and were able to keep up with them. While it was clear to John that they weren't like him and the other IIs in terms of combat experience, they were still able to keep up with them during combat. It made them wonder where they and other Centurion Commando teams could do in battle since they were the closest the new human faction to them. Any remaining thoughts they might have had that were negative or concerning about their performance that those beside John would have had about them were gone. It did make them wonder if they would be able to truly work with them side by side in future missions against the Covenant since the various groups would still prove to be a problem.

 _'Havoc, me and Spartan-058 spotted some kind of creatures heading your way.'_ Jaeger said over the comms.

Suddenly, the strange armored being appeared in front of John as it charged at him with an orange energy blade sticking out of one of its arms. It looked to be a robot that was a little taller then that of even the Spartan IIs, with a bulky upper body with its shoulders having what appeared to be wings However, John was able to react within miliseconds of its appearance as he fired off a number of rounds before dodging the incoming attack and slamming the mysterious enemy with a spin kick. He then quickly fired off several more rounds as Fred fired off a long burst from his SAW at the same time, both weapon tearing at its head before it disappeared

Then another of the strange robots appeared as Kelly quickly fired off a number of rounds from her M45A1 Assault shotgun before she then charged at the robot. She easily dodged its stab as she then nailed it with a lightning fast knee to its head, causing it to stumble back a half step before following up with an uppercut which knocked its head back. Then a split second after she punched it, the Rabbit then quickly shoved her shotgun where its neck was and fired off a couple of rounds which blew off its head as she quickly drew her Magnum and fired twice at another of the tall robots. Said robot she fired at then took a round from both Linda and Emily, both nailing its eyes as it screamed before it disappeared.

Then Havoc and Jackal spotted another robot and opened fire on it at the same time as they quickly focused down at the teleporting enemy (the Centurions didn't fire at the other robots since they knew Chief and Kelly could handle it and they were too close to fire on it) as the robot screamed in pain before it disappeared. It then quickly reappeared as it fired off glowing orange bolts at the GDI supersoldiers who quickly fired back before dodging the incoming rounds at the same time their snipers quickly pounded its head.

Kaze then quickly dodged an attack from the armored being as he clashed blades with it. The being then opened up its armored head, revealing a glowing blue skull as it screaming into his face. However, Kaze quickly drew his combat knife and quickly stabbed it into where it would have had its left eye. The being screamed in pain before a rocket from Ursa impacted it as Kaze jumped away at the right time, causing the beast to fall apart and disintegrate.

However, another four of the same robot appeared and one fired a pulsing red blast at the Centurions as they reacted in time to jump away. The blast split into four separate hard light projectiles, exploding and causing only the rocks around them to fly through the air. Jackal began moving around as another robots fired with an LMG weapon as a couple of rounds barely nicked him while Havoc did take a lucky glancing shot. Jackal charged up his GD-15 as he switched the rifle to blast mode to hit them harder, as he managed to make it almost stagger back as it leaped at him and tried to stab at him with the glowing blade. However, Jackal rolled out of the way as he slapped a magnetic disk into the side of the robot as he then fired at to the side at another of the robots that was blasting Kelly with a shotgun like weapon. The Rabbit easily moved around the shots and quickly tossed a grenade at the robot's head as she then jumped into the air as she went into Spartan Time and quickly drew her Magnum pistol, aiming at the explosive as it then impacted the enemy. She then quickly let off a shot and hit the grenade, causing an explosion which caused the robot to take a step back as she then rushed at it while easily dodging fire from another of the tall robots firing a machine gun weapon at her.

She closed the distance and used a power slide which allowed her dodge a thrust from the robot which had recovered quickly. She then unleashed several blasts form her Assault Shotgun which blasted the enemy back until she then had her foot push up to a rock as she then leaped off of it and continued to blast away, finally killing her target as it disintegrated.

Ursa then quickly drew out his rocket launcher and damaged another of the robots before he was them shot at from two directions and had to move. The assembled super soldiers looked around to see four legged robots with a predatory head that glowed bright orange. They were moving all over the area as both groups of human commandos easily moved around a dodged their attacks.

"New targets!" he yelled as he then got out his Gatling gun and fired upon a trio of the new enemies with a long burst as the 50 cal rounds easily took them down. Soon a few dozen of the new arrivals showed up as the supersoldiers began to move about, moving fast enough that the robots had trouble firing upon them and were taking losses due to the fast hand-eye coordination and reflexes of the Spartans and Centurions. Ursa then reloaded his rocket launcher as he boosted forward and slammed into one of the quad legged robots, sending it flying as he let off the cluster missile and killed four more of the enemy before jumping out of the way of six more enemies and firing his Gatling gun.

Castor used her telekinesis and tossed one of the quad robots into one of the taller robots which caused it to stagger and allowed Kelly to power slide and fire her automatic shotgun into its face as it staggered back before Linda finished it off with a headshot. She then dodged yet another burst of fire from three more quad legged robots as she then unleashed a blast of lightning, flying their circuits as they fell to the ground as she then quickly drew her sidearm and fired at one of the tall robots as she ran around it and dodged their fire, but did take several shots which drained her shields.

Emily and Linda then fired as fast as possible while still being accurate to continually hit the new enemies. Their heavy Sniper Rifles being more then enough to take out the new opponents with one hit each as they focused on some that had weapons that could charge up to fire on their comrades as they all moved around the battlefield and easily killed what they figured were the Grunts of the newcomers.

Fred then jumped out of the way of another blast of the taller enemies with another heavy weapon as he fired upon it with his SAW as he entered Spartan Time to dodge even more shots while firing away before jumped behind cover and in one fluid movement threw a grenade at a group of the animalistic enemies which began to move away before it went off and took out two of them. He then jumped over his cover after reloading and fired upon the big robot he fought before it swung at him with its blade as he quickly drew his combat knife and stabbed into any area that slits in its armor as his arm moved like a blur before following up with a spin kick which forced it back. He then quickly followed up with jumping and cutting off the head of the robot as he grabbed the heavy weapon and quickly aimed at a group of the four legged robots and let out a shot as he rolled forward. The blast impacted in the center of the group and took out two enemies while the split blasts detonated and took out three more. He then quickly turned behind him as he brought the weapon to the enemy that tried to charge at him as he fired while moving back with a Thruster Pack he had brought along with him and fired, taking it out in one shot.

Castor then threw two of animal like robots at another of the tall robots as it clashed blades with Kaze, the Japanese super commando jumping and doing a backfilp over the enemies turned projectiles as he put away his blade and tossed two disks at the robot, badly damaging it as Linda and Emily took it out at the same time. Cynthia then fired her GD-14 at two of the metal beasts as she quickly took them out while closing the distance as she jumped over a pair of energy blasts and shocked one of the offenders with a lightning whip attack. She then swung her whip at one of the tall robots as John jumped over her and fired a 40mm rifle grenade at the last of the tall robots as he quickly spotted it as it teleported back in as the explosive damaged the robot. He then followed up with a burst from his assault rifle as he took out and tossed a Plasma grenade he picked up earlier and it stuck to the enemy as it blew up.

The Master Chief then pivoted around a beast robot that jumped at him and put it in front of him to take the shots from three of its kind as he charged at them as he quickly took out his Magnum, nailing them with headshots as he then jumped on another of the enemy and punched another as it flew a few feet as he pulled out a M8 PDW (he had requisitioned it from a UNSC weapon crate that was inside a Cougar IFV before they had left Pathfinder base) and fired upon another group with quick bursts, taking them out in mere seconds as he fired on the last tall robot. Havoc then tossed an EMP grenade, stunning the tall robot as Chief quickly tossed a frag grenade in a motion that allowed him to take out the last of the tall robots before he finished off four more of the animal like machines with quick bursts from his PDW and shots form his pistol as he rolled forward from returning fire.

In the end, the remaining enemies had been eliminated, all in the a matter of a couple minutes due to both group's skills. Now began to look over the area as they were waiting for another attack. However, the unknown enemies didn't send any more forces as they continued to move towards the structure as Linda and Emily moved up. Both groups were now on alert, checking all sides as they knew the enemy would attack once again.

"Chief, any idea what those things were?" Havoc said as the supersoldiers eased up a little as they got closer to the structure as it was in visible range.

"None, perhaps new Forerunner units." Chief said.

"Yeah, but they seemed a lot different from the Sentinels and other Forerunner drones we've seen." Cortana said. "Plus, notice they were glowing orange instead of blue? They must be using different energy weapons then what we have seen before, along with being potent from want damage they did to area."

"I was able to get a quick scan of the weapons they used," Logan said as he used Havoc's helmet speakers to talk aloud. "they're hard light projectiles. They seem to be disintegration weapons from what I can gleam. Basically, if someone is hit with these type of projectiles, they be broken up at the cellular level until the being that was hit is erased completely."

"It sounds like another variant of the Forerunner weapons we've encountered before Chief." Cortana said aloud. "But why haven't any UNSC reported on such equipment being built before?"

"Could be possible its a special branch of the Forerunners or even a subdivision." Caster chimed in. "I mean if they are different in the types of weapons they use, perhaps its much like how their are weapons for regular infantry and weapons for special forces."

"Fair point." Kelly said to the Tiberium Mutant. "We should report this."

"I'll let Pathfinder Base know." Havoc said. "You guys relay it to the _Infinity._ "

The Spartans nodded as Fred sent the info to Captain Keyes as they began to take position behind some rocks as they continued to move up. John moved with his team with himself in the lead after reloading all of his weapons as he scanned the area. However, he put a hand to his helmet as various images began to flash through his head suddenly. It lasted only for a few seconds but he could still see the images as clear as day.

Beings in advanced looking power armor firing bright blue or orange beams at different types of enemies...

Flood lifeforms attacking various different beings and taking over ships...

A highly advanced ship attacking what looked like primitive humans with a bright orange beam...

The very same tall, bipedal robots fighting beings that were infected by the Flood...

 _Both you and the new humans have a role to play..._

 _You must stop him..._

John then blinked his eyes as he was back in real time as he tried to understand what he just saw for a few miliseconds. From what he had seen, there was no doubt that what he had just seen were images from the past with the Forerunners fighting both what appeared to be humanoid and later the Flood (that much he knew about considering how the alien parasite did cause the destruction of the highly advanced alien race) over the course of countless years. It seemed to confirm Castor's guess about the robots being a special unit that the Forerunners made in order to fight the Flood in battle.

"Chief?" Fred said as he walked up to John, a little concerned about his Spartan brother.

"John what's wrong?" Cortana said. She couldn't tell from the scanners inside the armor that John was having something effect his mind based on his brain patterns. She didn't think that John would have such a sudden spike unless it was something he remembered or something shot through his mind by accident. It was only for a few seconds and John was still composed, but the suddenness made her wonder what her Spartan just experienced.

"Images... images of the past from what I could tell." John said.

"What did they say?" Kelly said as she walked up to John.

"Something is coming. Something that the Forerunners made." John said.

"Something that ancient?" Ursa questioned. "Could it be a robot or a superweapon?"

"Not sure. Double time it to the structure." John said as both the Spartans and Centurions nodded as they moved forward, both groups becoming more focused on the mission for any more surprised that were heading their way.

* * *

 **In the Didact's chamber**

While still bidding his time to finally be released, the Didact observed images from his Watchers upon the advancing human forces against the Covenant forces. While they weren't on par with the humans that he had fought back in his time, they were still capable to standing up his forces in combat. The UNSC had proven themselves to overcome the aliens and the Flood from what he was able to get from looking at data from other Forerunner planets and installations, especially the armored soldiers that have shown such skill and capability that they could prove to be a problem. The other human faction had more advanced technology that interested him from what he could tell.

His soldiers had attacked the group of super soldiers in order test them in battle and they were able to deal with them without much of a problem and were able to work effectively to win the battle. Not only that, but he could tell that both human groups had even more soldiers with advanced power armor with energy shields form both groups along with perhaps even more equipment that would help them against his forces. Plus from what he was able to pick up via his equipment and servants, both human ships had tens of thousands of soldiers and hundreds to thousands of vehicles in reserve for when the time was right.

His forces would have a hard time, but he wasn't going to have the humans escape Requiem as he will enact his revenge. The remaining Covenant forces will also prove useful to his plans due to their devotion to his race, deifying them to where they would follow his orders without question and would prove useful fodder in slowing the humans down along with possibly giving them new weapons in the future.

He in particular looked at the leaders of the two groups that were coming closer to his prison. The one leading the four larger humans seemed to be a particularly strong individual in terms of courage and power, along an unbreakable will. This was someone that was not phased by anything from his demeanor and the way he carried himself in battle. The second leader of the new human's supersoldiers also looked to have potential to be a true warrior, if not prove to able to fight along the taller beings. The powers his quad had were quite unique in his eyes since the female was able to blast his soldiers with lightning and use telekinesis much like he could.

Perhaps he would have a good time dissecting her to see how she was able to possess such powers.

These supersoldiers would prove his main obstacle once he finally got out and would no doubt hunt him down where ever he went in order to protect and preserve

"I will have may revenge against humanity, and these armored warriors will not be able to stop me." The Didact said as he looked at both the images of Havoc and Master Chief, the two best soldiers of their respective groups.

* * *

 **Well, that's all for this chapter.**

 **Hope that you all enjoy how the Battle of Requiem is going so far. I am having the Covenant begin to change up their tactics in order to cause more casualties in combat and to try and lessen their own force's losses in comparison. Meanwhile, the UNSC and GDI are using combined arms to push forward alongside fire support from their support vehicles in breaking the Covenant defenses. Don't worry, for Halo fans I plan to have the UNSC show off more new stuff in the future along with making OCs for the other branches soon.**

 **As for the Didact and his forces, they have made heir appearance in battle. Of course when fighting several super soldiers, they are going to have a bad time. I hope that the way this fight went for the Spartans and Centurions was far more fluid and had them really show off their skills in combat. I figure that I could try and make the fights have more movement and action.**

 **Next chapter, I'll be introducing a certain pilot and his big robot buddy into the fight. If you know about or seen the GDI weapon list I made, then you have a go idea as to what I'm sending in alongside the UNSC mechs that are going to join the advance force next chapter. This plus the appearance of Grizzly Mk II tanks along with Some more action with the super soldiers and even ODSTs, the latter with a certain exo suit to really tear things up on the battlefield. Let's just say its going to be fun when that shows up and that they'll give the Covenant a real surprise.**

 **As for Blue Team and Fireteam Praetorian, they'll finally run into the Didact and see just how powerful the Promethean super soldier is in battle. It will be something that shows the power the Promethean super soldier's power, but with more super soldiers around, it will prove a challenge for him since he'll have to deal with attacks from multiple directions.**

 **If you are wondering who they are, try to recall three certain words that have become a phase for a more recent FPS.**

 **Anyway, that's all for right now. See you all in the next update for Remnant of Flames! Blazblade out!**

* * *

 **Codex: M820B3 Calliope**

Armament: 40 to 60 250mm rockets

1 M247 12.7mm HMG

Crew: 2 (driver and machine gunner)

Bio: Designed as a heavy fire support vehicle, the M820B3 Calliope was made at the same time as the Lupus tank. Due to experience from the Human Covenant War, the UNSC's previous MLRS system, the M808B3 proved to be ineffective in battle with the more advanced Covenant forces. The heavier missile warhead allowed a much bigger explosion that could destroy most Covenant land vehicles and take out their defenses with ease. It can use either dumb or guided warheads to hit their targets and can use HE, fragmentation, Thermobaric, and other types of warheads depending on the type of target their attacking. They can even use HEAT warheads to help take down more heavily armored opponents but is usually more effective at long range. They have the same amount of armor that the Lupus had so they are able to take as such damage as the original tank. It can fire all of its missiles at once or one at a time in rapid succession. (Inspired by the M20 Firefly Multiple Launch Rocket System from Halo Fanon)

* * *

 **Codex: M821 Ripsaw**

Armament: 2 20mm Gatling guns

1 M247 12.7mm HMG or M831 20mm autocannon

Crew: 2 (driver and machine gunner)

Bio: Designed as a close support weapons platform that could help cover the infantry's advance and based on the Lupus chassis, the Ripsaw is a death dealer that has earned the reputation of fear from both the Covenant Loyalists and the Insurrection when it was deployed into battle. The high rate of fire of the twin Gatling guns allows for a literal storm of lead that can turn infantry into bloody pieces and light vehicles into scrap metal with ease. It also has enough elevation for its Gatling guns to target low flying aircraft, proving to be a serious danger for Covenant Banshee pilots along with the various dropships they have in service. Both Gatling guns can output 6,000 rounds per minute, allowing the vehicle to send streams of lead down range and can damage all but the heaviest Covenant vehicles. (inspired by the M824 Panther Close Assault Vehicle from Halo Fanon)

* * *

 **Codex: G79-TC/MA2** **Pelican** **Gunship**

Armament: 1 Model 6 Grindell/Galilean Nonlinear Rifle

1 GAU-53 MBHRC 70mm autocannon

2 GAU-53 30mm autocannons on the sides of the head on swivels (the concept art used by the Hawk Close Air Support vehicle)

3 M638 20mm autocannons or MG640 grenade launchers

8 Scorpion Air to ground missiles

24 Anvil II air to ground missiles in the wings

Can be equipped with Locus micro missiles, Scorpion air to ground missiles in pods that could attached under the wings or even two M6088 ST/MMP missile pods

Bio: Designed as an upgraded version of the current Pelican, the MA2 was made to provide heavier fire support then the current variant. First used during skirmishes against Brute raids against friendly Covenant planets, the heavy armament proved effective in tearing apart waves of Brute forces along with their supporting vehicles. While the aircraft are heavier then the previous model, they had more powerful propulsion engines in order to compensate for it along with tougher armor. The sheer amount of firepower the MA2 could destroy a whole Covenant armored company in moments when in the hands of skilled pilots and co-pilots. A number of squadrons had been sent to serve on the _Infinity_ prior to the mission to Requiem.


	10. Chapter 9: Reawakening

**Alright then, time for the next chapter of Flight of the Twin Eagles.**

* * *

 _Chapter 9: Reawakening_

 **Razgriz Squadron**

 **Jacob "Nemesis" Alexander**

 _'Still can't believe I drew the short straw on this one.'_ The Southern Cross thought to himself.

He was flying a special version of the Razorback which had a clocking device and a highly advanced optical camera which would allow him to see enemy soldiers as he came over the horizon and his HUD was able to get real time feed from several drones which GDI had deployed in order to keep track of Covenant and the new unknowns movements. While the fighter was geared for recon, it still had 4 built in and retractable OPMM pods, M339A1 35mm Gatling guns, 4 Hawk A2A missiles, and 4 Archer missiles, giving him options for dogfighting in case he was spotted.

"Pathfinder, this is Nemesis." He called on the comms. "All Covenant forces are regrouping for the next assault. No sign of any of the unknowns that Blue and Fireteam Praetorian encountered."

 _"Keep on watch Nemesis, since we hurt their forces it wouldn't surprise me that their planning to counterattack soon."_ Cole said. _"We'll be sending an E-99 Scaneagle up to assist you in 2 mikes. Callsign will be Long Watch."_

"Wilco Phoenix, continuing the mission over." Nemesis said as he went faster to move things along but not enough to allow Covenant scans to pick him up.

Both GDI and the UNSC were quite worried from the unknown Forerunner robots that the supersoldiers fought if the data that both Logan and Cortana sent them was accurate. They seemed dangerous due to both the how tough the biped robots could be against their regular soldiers and especially the hard light weapons with their ability to disintegrate their targets. They also had no idea as to how many of said robots were on Requiem and if they were acting autonomously or were under the control of an AI that was stationed on the planet. The UNSC had informed GDI that all Forerunner facilities they had discovered had highly advanced AI which were to watch over them until they discovered them, and they weren't hostile to humans due to them being the "Reclaimers" that were supposed to inherit their advanced technology. So unless the AI had been affected by the Flood or something along the lines of corrupted coding which made it go crazy (much like 343 Guilty Spark), it wouldn't make since for the Forerunner robots to attack humans.

Although considering the difference in the look of the robots, perhaps they were a special unit as Caster speculated and could be under a different being.

Therefore, they needed to not only keep an eye on the Covenant forces which were still reeling from the earlier offensive but to also try and get information on the new enemy force.

He began to head over to another Forerunner tower as his scanners were working overtime in order to detect any nearby enemies. So far, the Covenant had yet to detect him as he kept his head on a swivel and always had his finger on the trigger for when when he was found out. He had already killed two to three hundred enemy fighters in both the space battle and when they landed on Requiem, so he was getting a good grasp on how Covenant fighters did battle. While he could see that craft such as the Seraph fighter were very agile and their weapons were effective, he had dealt with Neo Nod fighters which were just as agile if not more dangerous with their rapid fire laser cannons and when they found a way to minimize the Obelisk of Light to be used on aircraft. The data had been sent to the various AI in the fleet, which would no doubt start making GDI fighter pilots start making new tactics and strategies in order to better deal with the alien forces.

Soon, a new voice sounded on the comms. _"Nemesis, this AWACS Long Watch. I'll be assisting with locating enemy forces and provide updates on the mission. Pleasure to be working with one Strangereal's best combat aces."_

"Noted Long Watch," Jacob said as he continued on. "Make sure that nothing tries to sneak up on us alright."

 _"You got it."_ Long Watch said.

Long Watch then connected to a couple of UAVs and made them send out sonic pulses to help map the ground below them. Anything the pulses caught were sent to Long Watch to be analyzed along with updating Nemesis on anything important. However, they ended up detecting something from the ground below. It happened to be some kind of silo, no doubt holding some kind of weapon or vehicle that could be launched if they were spotted.

 _'What's that?'_ He thought as he saw the holes in the ground opening up. Then, coming out of the holes which he could now see were actually silos, were four sleek, sliver planes coming out of the ground. They were elongated craft that had a stubbed nose and long body with what he could tell were engines floating alongside them as they took off from the ground.

 _"Heads up Nemesis, three unknown bogies incoming."_ Long Watch said. The AWACS operator was scanning the enemy fighters as they were boosting towards the single fight aircraft as the AWACS was outputting enough ECM that it would have caused the most advanced fighters in Neo Nod and the Scrin targeting issues and lose track of their pilots. This also allowed for the E-99 to stay hidden from enemy scanners as Long Watch could still keep track of enemy movements and give warnings of enemy munitions.

The fighters soon turned to face Nemesis as they started to open fire on the Aurelian fighter ace, glowing orange bolts flying toward the single fighter.

Jacob quickly retracted the camera that his fighter was using and deployed his Gatling guns and beginning to lock onto the incoming enemy fighters. He easily dodged the blots as he flew up to get a higher position to dive on the enemy. The three fighters soon split up and began to form a triangular box of which they would be able to fire on Nemesis from multiple angles. The Ace of Aurelia demonstrated his skills in battle as he avoided several of their attacks and observed their movements as they tried to shoot him down.

 _"Nemesis, you have weapons free. Engage and shoot down the unknowns!"_ Long Watch said aloud.

"Copy that, Nemesis engaging." Jacob said as he was positioning himself behind the closest fighter. He let lose a burst of fire which was causing some damage before the fighter pulled a fast maneuver which would have killed most humans and turned around quickly. This confirmed to the Strangerealian Ace that these were either robot fighters or must be manned by some kind of robotic lifeform. Of course, pilots like Trigger proved that skilled Ace pilots were capable of fighting advanced A.I. fighters back on their homeworld and even against the most advanced Scrin and Neo Nod Drone fighters. So he wasn't concerned about these Forerunner fighters as while they could be more advanced, they could be destroyed just like any other enemy craft.

He dodged a burst of hardlight projectile fire by quickly turning to the side as he positioned himself to open fire on another enemy aircraft. The 35mm rounds were able to cause some damage to the enemy craft before it took evasive maneuvers and began to move away from the GDI fighter ace. Nemesis pulled off from engaging the enemy force, knowing in the back of his mind that the other fighters would try to engage his six and their weapons could be able to both bring down the shields and take down his aircraft. His instants proved correct as he was able to avoid a burst of hardlight fire as he rolled inverted and flew down, preforming a split-s and pushing his fighter to its highest speed.

Long Watch kept track of the movements of the enemy fighters as they kept track of their movements. He had to admit that they were more capable then that of Scrin drones as their rounds were around their power along with their attack patterns. This fight would at least give GDI a better picture of how to deal with Forerunner units in case of all out battle with the advanced alien automatons.

Nemesis managed to position himself behind one of the enemy fighters as he tailed the enemy craft before he launched a pair of OPMM missiles at it as he avoided another burst of hardlight projectiles from another enemy. The missiles impacted the enemy aircraft and it did show some damage, but it was still managing to fly. The combat ace raised an eyebrow at the sight before he had to roll inverted and pull a split-S, pulling nearly 12 Gs to avoid fire from the third which came in from 10 o'clock high.

 _"Damn. These guys are a bit of an issue."_ Nemesis thought with a frown under his helmet as he pulled a Pugachev's Cobra to avoid a charged blast from another of the fighters that was coming in from the fighter that was trying to get on his tail. Using his VTOL thrusters at full power to stop himself as the Forerunner fighter passed under him as he quickly brought down his nose and let off two another burst of 35mm fire as they caused the fighter to catch a bit of smoke.

He then slowed down his aircraft and used the VTOL thrusters as he was rolling. Using the Herbst maneuver, he was able to able to point his aircraft at the trailing fighter as he got an lock on and fired off a dozen OPMM missiles as well as unleashing a burst of 35mm cannon fire. The barrage of fire was more then enough to bring down the aircraft as it was too much this time and the aircraft went down in flame. He smirked behind his helmet as he maneuvered out of the way of retaliatory fire as he preformed a barrel roll and nailed the fighter with a burst. The fight then went into a 10g turn as Nemesis followed it and fired off three more OPMM missiles which tore off some of the armor.

 _"Bogey down."_ Long Watch called out.

He was forced off when the other Forerunner fighter flew in and fired two charged up shots which barely grazed his fighter. The Southern Cross pulled up in a sharp split-s as he fired off a Hawk missile. The Forerunner fighter was able to maneuver in a way to fire upon the missile and destroy it. However, Nemesis was able to take advantage of the fighter slowing down a fired a long burst of fire onto the enemy and damaged it by focusing on the areas that were less well protected.

 _'So, how to deal with these things quickly...'_ Nemesis thought for a few seconds. He then had a small grin on his face as avoid another pass from the Forerunner fighter. _'That could work.'_

He then turned quickly as he avoided another burst from the Forerunner fighter (although he was hit by several rounds).

 _'Come on... Come on...'_ Nemesis said in his mind as he was flying straight at the Forerunner fighter. He kept dodging both enemy fighters as they were closing the distance while he opened fire on the fighter in front of him as his rounds were damaging the enemy little by little.

The enemy fighter was closing in on him as his shields were dropping with the shots impacting him more.

5...

4...

3...

2...

1...

 _'NOW!'_ He mentally yelled as he made his move.

He angled his vectoring thrusters as he pointed the nose of his plane toward the sky and poured on the power in his thrusters as he pulled a 90 degree turn as he blasted up into the sky. The Forerunner fighters tried to turn as fast as they could, but due to the damage caused by Nemesis on them they slammed into each other. Both fighters crumpled in and had large chunks of armor come off after they crashed and their engines blew out. Both fighters were badly damaged as they tried to stabilize themselves.

However, like a predator leaping upon their wounded prey, Nemesis unleashed two Hawk missiles and 4 OPMM missiles at the pair. The Hawk's slammed into them first as any remains of their armor came apart before the smaller missiles completely destroyed the enemy. The burning wrecks fell like meteors as they caused large explosions once they hit the ground. Nemesis smiled under his helmet as he could now claim he was the first GDI pilot to shoot down Forerunner aircraft.

 _"Nemesis this is Phoenix, excellent job with the Forerunner fighters."_ Cole said via the comms. _"I'll send the rest of the squadron your way soon once they've selected their aircraft and weapon loadout. For now, return to your recon mission and see what else could be out there."_

"Wilco, returning to mission now." Jacob said as he flew his plane back toward the Forerunner structure. When his camera clear up the image, he saw dozen of corpses belonging to Covenant aliens and even pieces of destroyed Forerunner robots on the ground at the entrance.

 _'Looks like the supersoldiers are really cleaning house. '_ He thought. _'I honestly feel bad for whatever decides to confront them.'_

* * *

 **With the forces on the Frontline**

Jarrod had taken down another of the bulked up Elites as he ducked under its swing before he slammed his shoulder down on its wrist before he forced his Sidewinder micro missile launcher at close range which quickly took down its shields before following up with kicking the plasma sword out its hand. He then quickly jumped into the air and grabbed the weapon as he fired another rocket at a group of Grunts armed with Fuel Rod Cannons that were about to fire on a group of GDI Marines that were getting to a firing position to lay down heavy fire on an advancing Covenant force. He then dived down upon the Elite and slashed it down from the head to the groin of the tall alien.

The GDI Marine support squad (armed with three GDM-22 LMGs, four GD-15 lasers (with under barrel grenade launchers and two with Javelin missile launchers, and three armed with M64 Grenade Launchers) opened fire down below on a advancing group of Covenant forces, catching them on the flank. Several dozen Grunts were blasted apart from the grenade launchers and torn to pieces by the rapid fire weapons. Soon, two more support squads moved up with two M5 50 cal Gatling guns which and firing them upon the advancing enemy force as more of the alien group was getting killed quickly. A group of Spectres moved up and fired upon the ridge line, killing and wounding around 14 of them before those armed with missile launchers taking out four of them before they pulled back. The remaining soldiers retook position as four Bloodhound APCs pulled up and unleashed a barrage of guided missiles into another group of Spectres that tried to move up along with a trio of Revenants.

Soon, several mortar shells fell upon the charging group of Grunts, Jackals, and Elites. Some of them were canister shells which exploded above the Covenant forces and turned them into bloody pieces, others were guided HE shells which blasted them to pieces. Several mortar teams were able to get above on the high ground on a ridge that was on the flank of the small valley that GDI was advancing into and turning the battle into a meatgrinder.

Then, screaming above the battle were Halberd bombers which let lose several cluster bombs which opened up above the Covenant vanguard. Dozens of dozens the small bomblets exploded among their forces and disrupting the enemy formation. The few Covenant AA vehicles were firing at the bombers and took down two of them when their shields had dropped and they burned up as they fell. Some of the crews in both aircraft escaped as they were flying toward the ground via their parachutes as they were thankfully out of range of ground fire.

Suddenly, six UNSC GA-TL1 Longswords came in for a strafing run which tore up the advancing infantry as two of them dropped their bombs into the few AA vehicles the Covenant had and destroyed a number of the enemy vehicles while damaging others. The Longswords then split into groups of three as they quickly turned around fired three missiles out and nailed an incoming groups of Banshees as they took down twelve of them and damaged three others before they went on another strafing run and took out seven Ghosts and two Revenants.

Three GDI Mammoth tanks moved forward and blasted five Wraiths with their heavy cannons as shrapnel from the purple hover vehicles tore into nearby groups of Grunts along with fire from their 30mm autocannons, turning them into bloody chunks. Several armored Grunts which were armed with Fuel Rod Cannons opened fire on the advancing tanks, the energy shields taking the shots without slowing down as the following infantry opened fire with their various weaponry. A group of GDI missile soldiers opened fire with cluster warheads, breaking apart mid flight as around 32 mini missiles impacted a large group of charging Grunts and even wounded a trio of Elites that was pushing the small aliens forward. The Mammoth tanks opened with a volley of missiles which flew toward more Covenant forces, several of them killing off the slower and more muscular Elites while two were needed to deal with Hunters.

Jarrod then used his jetpack as he aimed down his Sidewinder and fired upon a nearby group of Jackals that were having a sniping duel with a trio of GDI Marksmen. One of the Marksmen had been hit in the shoulder, which the armor and energy shield stopped as they had been able to nail one in the leg. His micro missiles impacted their position, killing a few as they allowed the GDI Marksmen to fire upon the the remaining Jackals, killing them. He then moved in midair in order to avoid incoming fire from two Elites firing their Beam Rifles at him as he moved around their shots. The Mk III ICS that all commandos use (with improvements for the augmented commandos to better maximize their combat ability) allowed him to easily see the incoming threat and fly out of the way.

Then, the Elites were taken down with one shot each. Then, several Jackals that were moving in between rocks that were trying to move between them were being sniped with ease as their heads exploded with ease. This allowed for a group of GDI Zone Troopers to move forward and blast at a group of five Hunters, the 25mm slugs punching through their armor. The alien's armor and arm shield tried to block the slugs but the kinetic power behind them was able to break the plating apart. A trio of the Zone Troopers used their jetpacks to boost closer to one of the remaining Hunters that was still standing and used the suit's punch knuckles to punch it through their helmets or cut their throats.

One of the Troopers was hit by a couple of Fuel Rod Cannon blasts and staggered back. They were then struck by a mobile Plasma mortar shot and injured a few more as their armor and shields were able to allow them to survive the attack. A wraith rushed up from a small hill and tried to rush at them with the MG gunner opening fire on them before he was sniped. The Plasma Mortar was about to open fire as the vehicle was getting pounded by railgun shots but was then damaged by several long ranged shots and the damage caused the weapon to blow up.

 _"Hope you didn't mind the assist Jarrod."_ A voice sounded through his comms. It was none other then Fang who had been deployed to assist the advance.

"Sophie?" Jarrod said he began moving forward, seeing a flight of Orca gunships fly past him as they unleashed several AGMs onto a force of Hunters trying to flank a GDI platoon. "I take it the Commander sent out you and some of the other Centurion Fireteams?"

 _"He figured that we should deal with the Covies quickly since he got footage of those strange robots that Fireteam Praetorian and Blue Team fought against."_ Fang said as she was moving from her current position to a new one while firing off a missile from her over the shoulder MLRS at a nearby Banshee that was trying to attack a couple of Guardian II APCs. _"I think he believes that they could be more dangerous then that of the Covenant or give the Scrin's bots a challenge."_

Jarrod tsked at the news. The Scrin's drone units and combat robots had proven to be an effective force multiplier that allowed them greater numbers due to the heavy losses that GDI had given them during the Scrin Wars. This made attacking planets that had dubbed "Factory Worlds" during the conflict allowed for GDI forces to make better advances on the various fronts of the war. Either by planetary bombardment, GDI AI introducing programs which shut down the bases or causing it to explode, or Special Forces team or Commando units taking them down from the inside. The Scrin used tactics such as swarming attacks (coined by those that played Starcraft as Zerg Rushes) both in the air and on the ground, plus they even found ways to use them as a flexible defense which prompted GDI units to carry more firepower with them in order to offset the numbers disadvantage.

"Honestly the last thing we need is dealing with another advanced enemy race that could be a problem." Jarrod said as he flew over a group of Covenant light artillery which had been set up to give fire support to a group of forward positions which were trying to slow down the GDI advance. He soon switched a secondary targeting system that he had put onto his Sidewinder and marked the location for an air strike. Sure enough, a nearby Orca gunship flew in and fired both missiles and rockets into the position, destroying it along with using its Gatling gun to tear apart a nearby group of Revenants.

 _"No kidding, let's just hope that Em and the others can take care of whatever is inside that structure."_ Fang said as she took down an incoming Banshee with her sniper rifle, taking advantage of the information of the small slit that could allow her to hit the pilot. She focused her sight on the moving Covenant fighter as she jumped away from an incoming Fuel Rod Cannon shot as the world around her slew to a crawl. She then centered her crosshairs on the silt and while exhaling and pulled the trigger. The high speed slug left the barrel at it turned into a white streak as it threaded the needle and nailed the Covenant pilot. The Banshee then turned to the right (the pilot going to that direction in order to try and go for another run) and crashed into a nearby rock formation.

The Centurion sniper smirked as she flew using her suit's built in jetpack as she switched to her Garand rifle and quickly took down several Skirmishers with headshots as she then tossed a homing explosive disk at a pair that was trying to rush at her. She then fired off a missile from her shoulder mounted MLRS at a nearby Revenant, taking out the Plasma mortar cannon on top. The Sangheili driving the vehicle tried to boost forward and ram into a nearby fireteam of GDI Marines, however the Marines saw threat and jumped out o the way. One of the Marines then tossed a homing disk which impacted the side of the vehicle and blew it up.

She then saw a pair of Orca Gunships with single barrel 90mm autocannons (for dealing with heavier targets and using more explosive power) in the chin turrets opened fire on a group of Revenants and blowing them apart into scrap metal as they also fired two Hellfire X ATGMs at incoming Wraith tanks. They then switched to firing 80mm guided rockets into a pack of Hunters as the heavy warheads blasted apart the armor and and shredded infantry. They were forced to avoid fire from several Hunters as both their pilot's flying skills and the energy shields of the aircraft allowed them to survive the incoming fire. They fired back with their autocannons as they blasted the worm constructs into mush before launching with firing four Hellfire X ATGMs at four Revenants. The vehicles were blown to pieces by the missiles as the Orca gunships fired two more each into groups of Grunts.

These Hellfires had thermobaric warheads, which are very effective against infantry. The large, flaming explosion consumed the nearest Grunts, killing them instantly. Those that weren't killed immediately were burn by the intense heat or had their organs liquefied by the large blast wave. Those further away were knocked down or weren't burned as badly but it still caused them serious pain. The survivors were soon blasted with the 90mm autocannons which turned them into bloody mulch.

The Covenant were being beaten back form both humanities as they had to undergo rear guard actions to try and slow them down. However, GDI Legionary Commandos and UNSC Spartan IVs were going behind the lines to tear into the enemy. While some casualties had been inflicted as the Covenant were fighting harder then before, they were still able to advance and dealt heavy losses to the fanatical aliens. There were areas where they counterattacked with flanking maneuvers but both human groups were launching more missiles from their respective ships along with sending in more artillery to support their advancing forces.

In the midst of these strikes, Centurion Fireteam Ghost was deployed among them. They in particular were causing immense levels of chaos behind the lines as their armor had highly advanced cloaking devices, allowing them to tear apart the Aliens at will and sow discord. They were even able to get inside one of the Hydra towers and began to sow discord among the enemy forces when the UNSC had sent them the codes which allowed them to mess with their communications and redirect units around.

Jarrod then fired at another Elite with his Sidewinder as the missiles quickly brought down the shield and turned the alien into a bloody mess. He noticed that Guardian II MEDIVACs were moving back any wounded soldiers when they could as three APC versions of the vehicle open fire on a trio of Hunters with 40mm grenade launchers. The explosives were able to break apart their armor and turned their worms into mush. One of the APCs took a hit from a pair of Fuel Rod Cannon shots, but their ERA blocks were able to take the hits as the Hunters were blasted apart.

Several GDI Marines spotted Jarrod and saluted him as Predator tanks passed by. GDI's "medium tanks" were rolling over the light Covenant vehicles and only taking damage when several Revenants were firing upon them in groups. This focused fire allowed for them to take down their energy shields and damaged them, but the heavy armor was able to hold against them. The 150mm cannons fired off HEAT rounds which turned the hover vehicles into scrap metal as their 50 cal Gatling guns tore through the incoming force of Grunts and Jackals that were to slow them down.

Jarrod motioned for a mortar platoon to move up and fire down upon a group of Elites firing their Plasma Launchers upon a group of Guardian II APCs and blew up three of them, killing and wounding around 20 GDI soldiers. He then joined a trio of GDI machine gunners who fired down their GDM-21s and lied down heavy fire upon the group of Elites which fired off a few Plasma shots. The GDI gunners ducked down to avoid the projectiles as Jarrod's shields were dropped down to 90% due a few exploding close to him face. The Commando got back up and quickly fired from his MLRS into the Elite position as the mortar fell upon them.

 _"All friendly units,"_ A male voice sounded in his comms, _"this is Meteor lead. Coming in hot for bombing run, 10 seconds."_

"All units take cover!" Jarrod yelled as he grabbed a nearby Plasma Launcher from a dead Elite and fired off four rounds into a pair of charging Sangheili with energy swords. The rounds stuck onto them and exploded as they were torn apart. He then quickly brought out his Spitfire LMG and gunned down several more Grunts as a couple were trying to make their usual suicide charge with armed Plasma grenades. The Grunts which brought them out then dropped him once Jarrod punched a good number of holes into them as they let go of their explosives. The glowing blue grenades then detonated and tore apart more of their fellow midget aliens.

Above him, a dozen Halberd bombers flew overhead and dropped several cluster bombs which tore into the Covenant vehicles and advancing infantry. The multitude of explosions tore through dozens of enemy soldiers. The Halberds did come under fire from Covenant AA with three taking damage and two taking severe damage. The AA was then targeted by Akula ground attack aircraft as they went up in flames from AGM strikes and missile fire from Razorback fighters.

"Nice job Meteor lead, bombing run was successful." Jarrod said through his comms as he fire off the remaining rounds in the Plasma Launcher onto whatever remaining Covenant forces. He then tossed the weapon into the head of a Grunt as it let go of its Fuel Rod Cannon as Jarrod quickly ran over while firing his sidearm. He quickly grabbed it as he kicked the dazed Grunt away before firing three rounds into a force of Skirmishers and blasted them back into the stone age.

Then, several Covenant heavy artillery rounds impacted the frontline of the GDI advance. Several rounds hit some of the Predator tanks and knocked them out along with tossing APCs into their sides. Losses were light but the heavy amount of fire was slowing their advance down.

Another pair of Halberd bombers then flew over a nearby large as they dropped a Thermobaric bomb directly onto the large Covenant artillery position as the massive mushroom cloud covered a large area. The intense heat of the weapon burned alive any Covenant soldiers in the immediate area and turn sand into glass. Over 30 Covenant artillery guns were destroyed and around 180 Covenant soldiers were killed.

Soon enough, several Juggernaut artillery walkers moved up closer to the frontline as 15 250mm shells flew over the front of GDI forces into more enemy artillery positions. Covenant guns and gun crews were torn apart as the GDI forces upfront pushed through the wreckage of any Covenant vehicle that had been destroyed along with the infantry steadily advancing. More GDI and UNSC artillery vehicles were moving up to open fire on the enemy forces in order better break apart the Covenant units.

Jarrod soon took to the sky again, ready to continue the fight and finish off any remaining forces of the Covenant.

* * *

 **Deep Inside the Forerunner structure**

"URSA, TAKE THAT HUNTER DOWN!" Havoc yelled as the supersoldiers were under fire from another group of Covenant soldiers.

Ursa aimed down his rocket launcher as impacted the large alien construct as he dashed forward and jumped over the incoming fire of Fuel Rod Cannons. He quickly pulled out his battleaxe and quickly spun around with a the weapon out to the side as he did so. Eventually, it got to the point were his next turn had his ax cut through the back of the large alien as he quickly maneuvered and jumped to side as he grabbed a Grunt by the head and threw it at an Elite which caused the alien to stumble as Linda quickly took it out.

Havoc then ran to the side and vaulted over a low wall and fired a 40mm grenade from his GD-14 at a trio of Jackals that were firing their Needlers at him. The grenade want off above them and knocked down the aliens as the descendant of Nick Parker switched back to its assault rifle mode and continued fire as he slid into cover. He then saw a number of Grunts heading toward him as he tossed a homing disk as he blew up the enemy group before switching to single shot and quickly taking them down with headshots within seconds.

Kelly and Miguel dashed through the battlefield as fast as they could as they tossed grenades and fired away with their automatic shotgun and laser rifle respectively. The Covenant are barely able to touch them as their numbers were being blitzed. Kelly was able to use the "power side" maneuver as she ducked under the swing of an Elite's energy sword and quickly rolled forward and jumped up over another Elite. During the flip, she quickly reloaded her weapon and fired point blank at the Sangheili's face, the shields holding for a few shots before it shorts out and the head is blown to bloody pieces. She then landed and quickly drew out her Magnum pistol and scored headshots on a pack of Grunts.

Miguel on the other hand was leaping on some ruins and firing his GD-15 in blast mode, which allowed him to quickly drain the alien's shields and (with the Jackals) could cause them to stagger and allowed his fellow soldiers to deal with them more quickly. He then landed a headshot on an Elite which had its shields already taken down and blasted apart the alien's head. He then quickly somersaulted under a Fuel Rod Cannon shot as he switched to his sidearm and quickly killed off several Grunts with headshots. He then was jumped upon by a Jackal as he quickly grabbed the alien by its neck and tossed it into another FRC shot with destroyed the alien completely. He then pulled out another frag grenade into the air as he fired upon the explosive when it was over a group of suicidal Grunts with armed Plasma grenades in their hands. He nailed the explosive and the fragmentation shards decimated the aliens.

Kelly then shoulder charged a Grunt armed with a Fuel Rod Cannon and grabbed it out of their hands. She then jumped up and aimed it at at a nearby Hunter as she slid under its shield arm and fired at its back as she continued to move. The shot blasted apart their back and make it fall over dead. She then fired three more rounds into the Jackal snipers and Skirmishers armed with Needle Rifles and Covenant Carbines and she easily avoided their shots.

Both speedy supersoldiers both nod as they continued forward and took down several Grunts and Jackals as they gunned them down.

Miguel on the other hand threw one of his remaining disks at a pair of dashing Skirmishers, blowing them up as he fired off a charged up shot at a nearby Elite. He drained most of its shields and before it could fire back, Fred slammed down on the alien and stabbed his knife into its head as he quickly pulled up its corpse to block a few shots from Grunts which were firing behind cover before he threw a grenade behind their cover, killing them once it exploded. He then went for the Needler that flew out of the hands of one of the dead Grunts, and fired on a pair of Jackals while vaulting over the wall.

Then Kaze dashed in, his Fusion katana in hand as he slammed a Jackal with a knee to it face and parried another that had a Plasma cutlass before quickly cutting its head off. He quickly grabbed the Covenant weapon and stabbed into another Jackal before spin kicking another hard enough to twist and break their neck. He then tossed the plasma weapon into the skull of a Grunt that was wielding a Fuel Rod Cannon as he slashed down a charging trio of cutlass armed Jackals as he dashed to grab the heavy weapon. He then grabbed it, jumped into the air, and fired of a full magazine into two groups of Grunts and brought down the barriers of three Elites which were taken down by Jaeger as Linda focused on dealing with Elites armed with Beam Rifles and Focus Rifles.

Ursa quickly brought out a cluster missile as he fired toward a pair of jetpack wielding Elites as they flew around the battle field duel wielding Plasma Heavy Repeaters as they tried to pin or take down any of the super soldiers. Two of the missiles nailed them and brought down their shields as John slid under a swing from a Sangheili Swordmaster and let off a couple accurate bursts which took them down before nailing a Jackal with a knee strike with caved its head in. The other two missiles nailed two Shade Turrets that had been brought in to try and stop their push forward.

Fred then jumped down on a nearby Elite as he quickly pulled out and stabbed his knife into the back of its neck before that could realize what was happening. He then grabbed its head and quickly snapped its neck before taking the Plasma sword in its hand. He then tossed out two of his knives which impacted the heads of two Skirmishers before he quickly fired back with his SAW, putting in his last drum magazine. The LMG was easily able to tear through Grunts and Jackals when he fired in bursts as their bodies were turned into Swiss cheese. He then quickly picked up a Needler and fire off several needles at a group of Skirmishers as they were impaled before dying from the explosion. He then slammed his fist into a nearby Skirmisher, easily breaking its skull before tossing its corpse into a nearby Elite Zealot as it was dashing at him.

The Zealot cut the alien corpse in half as Fred took out the stolen energy sword and clashed with the Sangheili. Both entered a deadly dance as they slashed, stabbed, parried, and countered. Hayate had been getting the hang of understanding the fighting style that the Sangheili used and soon landed a number of cut on the limbs of the alien before he then kicked the alien in the chin with all of his strength. The Sangheili was knocked off his feet and Hayate cut off the arm with the energy sword. He then stabbed his katana into its head as he grabbed the energy sword slashed a Skirmesher that tried to jump on him. However, the sword turned off as he realized that it must have run out of battery power as he then tossed it at a Grunt armed with a Fuel Rod Cannon which sent the shot far off course.

Hayate then dashed forward as he beheaded more Skirmishers before bringing out his laser PDW and fired upon a nearby Elite as he avoided a swing from its energy sword. The tall alien quickly recovered as it kept on the offensive, forcing Hayate to parry or block its attacks. His fusion katana created speaks whenever it clashed with the energy weapon as he fired another burst at a Jackal that tried to get the jump on him with an energy cutlass. The two parried and dodged each others attacks before Hayate was able to get within a swing form the Elite and quickly thrust his blade through its leg before knocking it back with a jump kick to the face. Then Kelly rushed up and quickly fired her automatic shotgun into its face as she jumped up. She then grabbed one of its Plasma grenades as it fell back, armed it, and tossed it at the back of a charging Hunter.

All of this within a couple of seconds.

Ursa fired off another cluster missile as he looked at his HUD, seeing that he only had one more of the special missile left along with only three more regular HEAT missiles and only two EMP missiles. He frowned at the information as he figured that he should save the two special munitions and use the HEAT missiles when absolutely needed. He quickly switched to his Gatling gun and fired upon a nearby Elite which was jumping between cover while firing two Plasma Repeaters when he could. Ursa's shields were able to take the fire and the focused bursts were able to disable the Sangheili's shields and the AP rounds easily punched through their armor. He then backhanded a leaping Jackal and quickly grabbed their fallen Plasma Pistol. He charged it up as he shoulder charged another Elite, knocking them down as he fired the charged shot at another Elite and quickly drained its shields and allowed Emily to take it out with her DMR.

Following their break into the structure, both teams had been dealing with more of the new Forerunner robots. Not only were they dealing with the quadruped and biped robots they fought before, but they they also encountered small robots which were summoned up by the large, armored robots. When they fired bursts upon the large automatons, the smaller robots activated a hardlight barrier which stopped the shots as the bipeds opened fire with either hardlight LMGs, high power shotguns, or special multi shot heavy weapons. Of course, the smaller robots were easily dealt with by both team's snipers and concentrated fire.

The various environments they were encountering as they ran through the structure made the GDI soldiers wary of what the Forerunners were capable of compared to other alien races they've met such as the Scrin and even another race they encountered called the Series which had been previously under the Scrin's iron grip. While they had encountered them previously, the Series were establishing their own area of space and weren't ready for negotiations.

Soon, the Spartans and Centurions began taking some of the weapons form the disintegrated robots. After some quick scans, both Cortana and Logan were able to tell that do to them being hardlight, they would easily have far more ammo then projectile weapons which would be a good replacement if they happen to have run out. While they had been keeping their ammo conserved with accurate bursts, they were running low on projectile weapons. Kaze as had been able to grab a pair of Boltshots which he placed on magnetic plates on his suit.

They had been activating platforms, jumping over gaps, and other such things which made them recall traveling through temples in movies and other such media. Their AI had also been helpful in setting them on the right path (though Logan was also deciphering the technology around them, in order to later send the information about the Forerunners to GDI HIGHCOM when they returned). Of course, they were running more into the Prometheans (as Logan and Cortana were now calling them) instead of the Covenant, which were providing more annoyances then the latter.

During this time, Cortana was getting worse as Chief could tell her voice was acting up as before back at GDI's MCV. She would act or say things differently or rise her voice to where she was shouting for no reason or (when she and Chief were the only ones speaking to each other) talked about how wrong it was for the UNSC to take him form his family and took any chance he had for a normal life.

It made him even more concerned as they kept going, knowing that he needed to get Cortana to Halsey as soon as possible in order to fix her of her rampancy.

In another large area belonging to the Forerunners, they encountered even more enemy robots as the four legged robots (called by Cortana as Crawlers) and the larger biped robots (which were called Knights) as they opened fire on the supersoldiers. Ursa was knocked around due to a Incineration Cannon shot landing close by him but he quickly recovered. He then fired his own Incineration Cannon back at the Kinght, but it was saved by a Watcher who had set up a shield to protect it. Kaze humped up clsoe to the Watcher and sliced it in two, allowing both Ursa and John to take it down quickly.

Fred had picked up a Hardlight shield earlier which helped in blocking several incoming shots form Knights and Crawlers (especially those armed with Binary Rifles). Kelly had been using her Thruster pack to better avoid enemy shots or even to slam against both Covenant and Forerunner soldiers. She even used it when she slid on the ground to speed her up. She had even fired her M45A1 at full-auto while sliding, blasting away any enemies that were close to her or blasting off limbs from Elites (leaving them to be easily picked off by her allies) or blasting apart Crawlers.

A few Watchers soon came about as they put up barriers which protected the Knights as they teleported around to deal with the invaders. However, Linda and Jaeger easily took out the small robots (they had switched to using the long range Forerunner weapons such as the Lightrifle and Binary Rifle to use on the enemy) easily as Havoc grabbed a Suppressor and fired point blink on the head of a Knight as he dodged a stab from the arm blade of the robot. While it took a good amount of the weapon's ammo, he was able to take it out and fire the rest in small bursts as he avoided charged Boltshot rounds from Crawlers. Once he was out he jumped over a leaping Crawler and tossed the weapon at another one, causing it to be off balance before pulling a quick draw with his pistol and headshoting the robot.

Fred meanwhile was reloading his Suppressor as he opened fire on several watchers, taking down the small robots which allowed Jaeger and Linda to snipe at the enemy. Due to the low amount of ammo they had left for their main sniper rifles forced them to go with the Binary and Light Rifles. They proved effective in taking out the Forerunner robots from long range as they helped to further disintegrate the robots.

Jackal had taken a Scattershot, which was a hardlight shotgun and began dashing through groups of crawlers. His heightened senses allowed him to keep track of the animalistic robots and blasted them when he lined up his shots. Whenever they got close to him, he grabbed one of the Crawlers and used them as shields when those armed with Boltshots tried to nail him with charged shots. He then tossed one of remaining frag grenades at a group of Crawlers as he fired his Scattershot one handed and nailed the explosive as it was a foot off the ground. The close proximity of the blast to the Crawlers knocked down the robots as they were blown up by a Siphon grenade tossed by Kelly.

Speaking of the speedy Spartan, she also took a Scattershot when her M45A1 shotgun was about to run out of ammunition and played decoy. She was moving fast on the battlefield, tossing her remaining frag grenades at groups of Crawlers and blew them up. She also got the attention of a pair of Knights which fired on her with their Light Rifles. However, John had snagged an Incendiary Cannon and blasted them with a couple of shots. One was destroy and another was damaged before they were taken out by Linda nailing it with a headshot.

They made it inside the main structure which would open up a communication line with both fleets and hopefully work with them to open up the planet and get out of the place.

More Knights and Crawlers popped up, opening fire on the supersoldiers in order to halt them. One of Knights teleported to Ursa and tried to stab Ursa from behind, but the Zone Commando easily dodged the attack and nailed it with a strong backhand to its head and grabbed its Suppressor. He then grabbed the knight and tossed it into a pair of Crawlers and opened fire in bursts at the quadrupeds.

Fred then pulled out his combat knifes and dashed toward another Crawler, stabbing it in the head and tossing it at another before it could disappear. A pair of Crawlers tried jumping at the Spartan, but Fred easily pivoted around the attack and kicked one of the Crawlers into the other, the two robots slamming against the wall as Kelly tossed a Siphon grenade at them. The glowing sphere grew around them, fell into itself and obliterated them without issue.

John then touched the first glowing symbol as the supersoldiers saw the lights in the room turn brighter.

"Good work John, one down one to go." Cortana said as the Spartan ran down to fire with his Suppressor upon a nearby group of Crawlers, firing in bursts into their heads and quickly taking them down. A pair of Crawlers tried to jump him, but he quickly grabbed one of them and tossed it into the other before tossing a Siphon at the two which destroyed them.

Fred closed on the second switch as Jackal and Kaze followed him while their snipers took down more Crawlers and Knights. Jackal looked at the number of energy packs he had left on his person for his GD-15 and saw he was down to five with the pack in his rifle down to 45%. He then switched to a charged shot and fired at one of the Alpha Crawlers and destroyed it while tossing another Siphon grenade at two more Crawlers. Kaze draw out his Boltshots and opened fire with charged shots on nearby Crawlers as he jumped over a low wall. He then kicked one away (which was leaping at him) and fired another charged shot at point blank at an Alpha Crawler.

Jackal switched back to regular shot and both fired and dodged shots from a pair of Knights. He was able to damage both of them before one teleported away. He then felt a presence behind him as he switched to cannon shot and avoided a thrust from the Knight and fired at its head at point blank range before taking it down. He then pulled out his Nighthawk and fired at its head as it dashed forward to slash him. He pivoted around the attack and stuck it in the side of the head with an elbow strike and fired the remaining amount of ammo in the energy pack in its head.

Fred then ran forward and kneed a Crawler in the head, knocking it away before firing his Suppressor and took down three more Crawlers. As he closed the distance, Linda and Jaeger took down a Knight which teleported in to stop him, the rounds hitting it in the head. Fred fired his Suppressor as avoided a slash from the Knight and then it roared at Fred while charging. However, before its armored head could close fully, Fred dashed forward and stabbed one of his knives into its glowing blue head. It wailed in pain as Fred then shoved his Suppressor into its head and fired the rest of the ammo it had in its face.

After killing the Knight, Fred pressed on the glowing switch, which allowed for the connection to the UNSC and GDI ships out side.

"Alright, we should be good to able to contact them outside!" Cortana said in cheer.

"Attention all UNSC and GDI ships!" Cortana began to speak. "This is UNSC AI CTN-4209 Cortana, both our forces are trapped on the planet and need assistance to escape. There is a new enemy faction that appears to be after both our groups."

 _"-his is UNSC Reac- -DI forces have been attempting to fin- ways to open the planet -d blas- the planet open."_ A voice said on the other side while hearing the telltale signs of a MAC cannon firing. Cortana identified it as Captain Holloway. It was likely he took command and had been trying to find ways to free the _Infinity_ and _Valor._ The sounds of the MAC cannons met that they must have been firing at the planet in order to open it up. Due to the age of the planet, it maybe possible to open it up after enough time of pounding with the weapons on the ships.

Before they could respond, a bright light soon shined over the super soldiers. The light was so bright, even their helmet's brightness dampeners were overwhelmed.

* * *

When the light died down, the Spartans and Centurions were taken aback by the new location they were at. They were now in some kind of large chamber that had multiple glowing orange lights around them a number of floating platforms.

"That's a face only a mother could love." Jackal said.

"So, this are the new humans that have been making such noise on my world." The Didact said as he looked down upon the GDI supersoldiers as they were taking aim along with their weapons along with Blue Team. He scoffed at their little display, thinking that

He then used telekinesis pulled them close to him, the soldiers struggling to try and move. He could see that the new humans were able to move around more, seaming better fighting against his abilities. However, he didn't think much of this as he looked them over.

When he had his scanners on the GDI soldiers, he found that strange reading from before coming from their armor. He could tell their armor was powered by an advanced fusion core which combined with highly refined plasma. However, he could tell there was another core in their armor which seemed to be innate and not being used. Not only that, but he could detect it had a different wavelength then any of the newcomer's tech which had the strange crystal. What was the most curious was that he saw this was similar to that of an old enemy.

It reminded him of something akin to the parasite that he had created the Knights to counter so long ago.

"To think, these are the primitives that will end up inheriting the technologies of the Forerunners." He said.

"Well, at least we happen to be better looking then you ugly." Havoc said, not caring about the being in front of them intimidating them.

"Silence you!" The Didact said in Havoc's face as he dragged him closer. "Do not make me see to crushing you inside your armor!"

Havoc wasn't afraid of the Forerunner as he knew there was an incredibly powerful mutant and telekinetic that was working with Neo Nod. He knew that there was one way they would be able to knock the alien around along with freeing them at the same time. While it would be risky due to the position they were in, he knew it was the best move they make in order to free themselves. He knew if this thing was to escape, he would no doubt cause chaos with their forces. So it was key that would be able to deal with him before he could leave.

"Then tell me this, want to see something cool?" Havoc said with a growing smirk behind his helmet.

"What. Is. It?" The Didact said as he was becoming more annoyed by this human.

"CASTER NOW!" Havoc yelled.

"Got it!" Cynthia said as she tried to lessen the grip of the Didact's telekinesis. "Activating Blue Core."

The UNSC soldiers turned their eyes to see what was happening and the Didact was surprised by what he was seeing, the areas of Caster's armor that glowed green (mainly the visor) was now glowing a bright blue. The Tiberium Mutant felt a large surge of energy flow through her body as she began to focus her energy and mind. She felt as if she had a surge of energy that put any adrenaline shot ever created to shame.

She then opened her eyes as she made a burst of telekinetic power in order to free the soldiers from the Didact's grip.

The Didact was surprised as Cynthia's telekinesis suddenly got even stronger then what he was feeling as it allowed her to loosen his grip on her allies. This allowed for Havoc to shoot off a rifle grenade and Jackal to fire a fully charged shot at the Forerunner warrior. The impacts further loosened his grip on the Centurions and Spartans as John, Fred, Kaze, Ursa, and Jackal fell to the floor and dashed

"It's my turn now bastard!" Caster said as she tossed the Didact around his chamber as he was still dazed. Ursa then used his jetpack to boost up as Caster drew the Didact at him and nailed his head with a strong haymaker, putting his back into it as the Didact was sent flying into another charged shot

Caster then lifted the Didact into the air and with all of her power slammed the Forerunner into the ground repeatedly. The attacks were causing cracks to form on the ground as she continued, now trying to tighten her telekinetic grip to try and damage the armor to further weaken the alien. Ursa then jumped into the air as he was then nailed by a hard haymaker to the face along with Fred grabbing the Didact by the leg when the alien landed in front of him. Then Castor launched another powerful telekinetic blast which increased the damage as the Didact was flown into the attack.

The soldiers then picked back up their weapons and rearmed them back at the alien. The Didact's head was ringing from the impact and was even more annoyed then before as he looked at the soldiers with anger in his eyes.

"Not bad mutant." The Didact said after Cynthia had just tossed him around like a ragdoll and had been hit by her teammates and the Spartans. "I must admit that was a clever little trick." He had to admit, that boost of hers was a surprise as he didn't expect something like that. While the strange reading to him seemed like a reserve energy source at first, he could now see it was a type of power boost which could make this newcomers more of a threat then he first realized.

"Like that? Well try this!" Caster yelled as her suit's arms opened up, revealing advanced Tesla Coils that pointed forward at the Forerunner. She then unleashed a large blast of electricity at the Forerunner. The Didact was able to throw up a barrier which stopped most of the bolts and did strain the force field as the other bolts impacted the remaining Covenant soldiers, overloading their energy shields and frying them alive.

Ursa then shoulder charged the Didact's barrier using his jetpack at full speed and throwing all of his weight behind it as it forced the Forerunner back a bit. John and Fred then quickly grabbed a pair of nearby Fuel Rod Cannons when they somersaulted forward and in an instant let off a couple of quick shots at the barrier. Jackal and Kelly then rushed him from both sides as the former fired another charged up shot while tossing an EMP grenade to weaken the barrier while Kelly fired her assault shotgun with grenade rounds to further weaken the barrier. Ursa then fired an EMP missile to add into the assault and eventually, the Didact's barrier gave way.

He quickly sent a telekinetic blast which knocked Ursa down as he blocked a sword swing from Kaze. Fred then pulled out the Incineration Cannon and fired a blast at close range, the impact causing the Didact to stagger as the Forerunner dashed at the Spartan with his arm blade. Fred quickly brought out the Energy Sword he took as he clashed with the alien. Fred grunted at the strength behind the alien, but his skill with blades and experience allowed him to keep up with the Alien as they clashed blades. He then quickly tossed a Plasma Grenade before getting launched back by the Didact. The grenade exploded as it broke the Didact's momentum as he was then nailed with Ursa swinging his fusion axe into the joints in his armor. The alien was able to move before the GDI supersoldier's attack would have attempted to cut off his arm but the blade caught a little of the joint area. It was able to cut a bit into the metal and left a scratch on it.

The Forerunner then staggered back as Ursa slammed into his back as Jackal fired a fully charged shot into his helmet before tossing his last EMP grenade at him. Jaeger and Linda then focused fired on the head of the Didact as Cynthia unleashed a large blast of lightning try to drain the Forerunner suit's energy. This was to better ware down his suit and will allow them to gain the upper hand on the Didact.

"You pests are beginning to try my patience!"

"Well sorry big guy, but your patience is going to put through the ringer with us!" Havoc said as he ducked under a swing form the Didact.

Havoc however then rushed at the Didact as he had grabbed one of the Forerunner grenades and armed it as his MLRS unleashed a missile at the Didact as Chief circled around and kept firing with the Suppressor he took before and tried to keep the Didact off balance. He then slammed him with a shoulder tackle before following up with a haymaker to the chest area. Havoc then blasted forward with jetpack as Chief avoided a thrust from the Didact's armblades and the Centurion dropped kicked him as Jaeger and Linda nailed him with shots to the back of his knees which staggered him a little.

Cynthia then took advantage of the moment and slammed the Didact on the ground with telekinesis before flinging him toward Ursa as the Zone Centurion swung his axe as hard as he could as the Didact was hit in the back. The Forerunner countered with a strong telekinetic push an Ursa as the Zone Centurion was flown into one of the walls. He then avoided a cannon shot from Jackal's GD-15 and let loose a telekinetic push which knocked back Kelly, Hayate, Jackal, and Havoc onto their backs. Jaeger pulled out the Lightrifle she had grabbed prior and fired a burst into his head which annoyed the Didact as he tried to grab both her and Linda with telekinesis. However, John was able to toss his last Plasma Grenade into his left leg as he sent a hammerblow to the back of the Forerunner's right knee.

Soon the Didact jumped back to avoid more Fuel Rod Cannons as he gained some distance. He then took a stance and prepared to attack with his telekinesis.

However as the Didact was ready to launch another powerful telekinetic burst, he then saw an alert in his helmet from his ship's sensors as he saw an image from outside the planet. He saw that both human fleets were firing away at the planet with their weapons and causing damage to it. He couldn't help but get angered from their efforts to assist their fellow humans. From what he had gotten, if both groups joined forces then once his ship was unleashed, it could be heavily damaged once he got out.

"I shall deal with you insects later." He hissed out. "I shall let my minions finish you off."

He then teleported in a bright light which caused the soldiers to look away (the brightness being even more then what their helmets were able to block out.

When the light died, the supersoldiers saw that the Didact was gone. However, there was a large number of Forerunner knights appeared as they aimed down their weapons at the new arrivals. It was a tough situation as the supersoldiers were running low on their own weapons and munitions, but they knew they could grab weapons off the fallen and use them against the enemy. Plus, if they could bring back the new Forerunner's weapons, they could be able to find ways to better adapt and deal with them.

"Take them down!" John said as the shootout began.

"Roger that Chief!" Havoc said as he opened fire on the nearest Knight with his shoulder mounted MLRS as the sizable missile split into four micro missiles and nailed the large alien robot. The soldiers then went into action as they continued their mission, now determined to stop the Didact before he could get out and reek chaos on the galaxy.

* * *

 **GDI Pathfinder Base**

As Cole was looking over the holo-map, he saw that things were progressing well on both fronts. While both human militaries have taken casualties but they have been making progress against the alien groups. Both groups had been sending even more firepower into the front along with more fighters in the air to deal with any remaining enemy fighters. The remaining Covenant forces were setting up any possible lines in order to try and stop them. The grounded Covenant ships were now flying up as their teleporter spires were working overtime to being down more forces.

Several GDI squadrons were now flying around the CCS battlecruiser was picking apart with railgun fire and even a couple of Trident nukes on the bow of the ship. UNSC Longswords, Broadswords, and Katanas were also taking down more and more Banshees and were picking apart the various weapon systems of the CAS Assault Carrier and the other two ships.

"Cole, multiple enemy forces inbound!" Wes said as he brought up images of Forerunner drones and robots appearing.

"What in God's name?" Cole said as both him and Warner was observing the sudden appearance of the robots as they moved forward to tackling the combined human forces. They could even see that the Covenant soldiers were bowing toward the robots as if they were holy relics or lords from olden times.

A massive orange glowing sphere suddenly appeared as UNSC and GDI spy planes and UAVs were keeping track of it.

"Looks like Blue Team and your Centurions might have woke up something." Warner stated with worry in his eyes. He and other UNSC officers were well aware of how powerful the the Forerunners were and that with dozens to possibly hundreds of them on the field that would cause a serious problem to both forces.

"Wes order the reserves into the line and coordinate our forces to prepare for the Forerunner robots! Have the forward forces slow down so they couldn't have a change to get completely outflanked or cut off." Cole yelled out. "Get more of our gunships out along with any available Centurion Fireteams along with Legionary squads. I want those hunks of junk turned into scrap metal ASAP!"

"Understood, sending out orders now!" Wes said as he sent out Cole's orders.

Cole said as he turned to Colonel Warner who was communicating with the _Infinity_ as he could tell the officer was pushing for more forces to be set into the fray.

Warner got off his communication link as he turned to Cole. "Captain Keyes said she's sending out Grey and Noble Teams along with more Spartan IV Fireteams and two more ODST Regiments. She's also ordered several more barrages of Archer missiles along with more fighters and Falcon fighters and other ground attack aircraft to be sent out.

Cole in particular was concerned about the massive sphere that suddenly appeared along with the Forerunner forces. He had a feeling that whoever was controlling these robots was now fully committed to destroying both human forces.

"Something tells me that things may have gotten a lot more complicated." Cole said with a concerned look on his face.

* * *

 **Well... Looks like things are about to get more serious. on Requiem.**

 **Now the Didact is finally out of his chamber and now going to take on both human groups.**

 **Like I said previously, I'm trying to make the supersoldiers have a more active style of fighting then I did previously. Really show off the abilities that they have in battle.**

 **Also, hope you guys are liking the combat with the Covenant and both human factions. Remember, GDI is highly advanced and powerful due to the wars with the Scrin and Neo Nod, and the UNSC had come up with**

 **Next chapter, I'm going to work on a UNSC marine, ODST with the ADS suit, GDI gunship crew and include points of view for Fireteam Reaper and Ghost.**

 **Hope you guys enjoyed this chapter, I'm trying to see about working on my stories when I can considering my life, school, and my job.**

 **Either way, this is Blazblade signing off!**


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